


Road to Redemption

by Adorable Blondes (Chloe), bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: The Luthor Series [3]
Category: Chlollie - Fandom, Smallville
Genre: Chlollie, F/M, adorable blondes, road to redemption, the Luthor series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-15
Updated: 2010-10-01
Packaged: 2017-11-23 17:22:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 40,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/624662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chloe/pseuds/Adorable%20Blondes, https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with <a href="http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html">A Fine Line</a> and <a href="http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10">Better Late Than...</a></p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)

Title: Road to Redemption  
Authors: [](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/profile)[**chloeas**](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**dl_greenarrow**](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: R  
Author's Note: This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)  
Note 2: Just to clarify something--the title is not related to Chloe, even though this very Chloe-centric. She's done nothing she needs to be redeemed for. So.  
Disclaimer: They are SO not ours. But we'd like them to be.

 

Oliver stood on the balcony of Chloe's apartment, staring out over the city with tired eyes. He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, yawning involuntarily. It was a little past two a.m. and he'd just gotten done patrolling a half-hour ago, after having been out for nearly four hours. Chloe had been asleep when he'd gotten back, and not wanting to disturb her, he'd made his way to the balcony. Part of him wondered if he should just head to his own place, but he'd been staying at Chloe's more than his own apartment for weeks now.

It wasn't the noise or movement or anything that woke her. It was the lack of it. She and Oliver had been sleeping together every night for months now and even though things weren't the same as they'd been when she first broke out of her nightmare, that hadn't changed. Or at least, it hadn't until now. Chloe got up, he wasn't in the bathroom or anything and it was past two, which meant he should be back from patrol already.

Her stomach clenched as she walked out of the bedroom slowly and looked around the darkened penthouse, she couldn't help but wonder if something had gone wrong.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned. "Chloe?" he whispered.

She held her breath at the sudden sound, then let it out slowly, both a little scared because she wasn't expecting him to be around and relieved that he wasn't laying in a ditch somewhere, hurt. "You're here."

"You were sleeping," he said quietly, hesitantly stepping inside the penthouse once more. "I didn't want to wake you."

Frowning a little, she shrugged, "I always wake up when you get back."

Oliver nodded a little. "Well, I'm back."

"Are you not tired?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"A little," he said softly, shrugging.

"Okay," she said, frowning more and studying him, "what is going on, Oliver?"

His eyebrows furrowed at that. "Like I said, I just didn't want to wake you up, Chloe. Nothing's going on."

"If you say so," she told him, arms going around herself defensively, "I'm going back to bed."

He paused. "Are _you_ all right?"

"Yeah," she answered shortly as she turned around.

"Right. Okay." Oliver sighed softly.

She took a deep breath then paused, "you don't have to stay if you don't want to." Someday, she would have to sleep without him.

He frowned. "Do you _want_ me to leave?"

"It's up to you," she told him, "you're the one who doesn't seem to want to be here."

"Or maybe that's just what you want to be true," he murmured, shaking his head.

"Meaning what, Oliver?" She asked, turning to face him, arms still around herself.

"Meaning you've been pushing me away for days," he said quietly.

Her chest and stomach tightened, "I haven't been doing anything."

Oliver looked down at the floor, his own chest tightening. "Why don't we just go to bed?" His voice was barely audible. "We can talk about it later."

Chloe looked at him for a moment then took a deep breath and turned around, starting toward the bedroom again.

He hesitated, then slowly followed her down the hall, feeling drained as he made his way back to her room, as well.

She got into bed silently, glancing up at him as he walked over to his side, pulling the covers up around herself.

He offered her a small, tentative smile and crawled into bed beside her, exhaling slowly. "Night, Chloe," he whispered.

She held her breath and turned toward him but somehow managed to stop herself from reaching out and touching him. "Night," she said quietly.

Oliver turned so he was facing her, as well, waiting to feel her hand on his arm, but she didn't. He hesitantly reached out and rested his hand over hers.

Before she could stop herself, her fingers curled around his and she let her breath out slowly.

He brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles softly and letting his eyes close. Within moments, he'd fallen into a dreamless, troubled sleep.

She didn't fall back asleep at all, she watched him until his breathing evened out, then with a deep breath, she shifted closer and wrapped her other arm around his, hugging it to her then finally closing her eyes and willing herself to sleep.

* * *

Oliver had just finished reading the newspaper when he heard footsteps on the stairs. Raising an eyebrow and finishing off his glass of orange juice, he watched the door open to reveal Lois. "You're up early," he commented.

"Haven't gone to bed yet, I'm _starving_ ," she told him, making a beeline to the fridge, "please tell me you have fo- oh thank God," she sighed in relief as she pulled out the pizza box.

He raised his eyebrows. "You haven't gone to bed yet?"

" _Work_ , Queen," she clarified, throwing a couple slices of pizza on a plate then placing it in the microwave, "I was up all night chasing a story. Is Chlo still in bed?"

Oliver smirked at that. "No, she's taking a shower, actually," he told her, rising to his feet and carrying his glass to the sink.

Lois frowned curiously at him, cocking her head, "what are you smirking about?"

"Your clarification," he informed her with amusement.

"Oh, right. Good." She told him, walking over to the microwave and pulling her pizza out.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "What did you _think_ I was smirking about?"

"Nevermind that," Lois said, brushing him off, "how is she doing today?"

He watched her for a moment, then shrugged, glancing down at the sink as he ran water in it. "We haven't really talked much this morning."

Lois glanced down the hall as she took a big bite of her pizza then glanced over at Oliver, "how do you think she's doing?" She asked, not bothering to finish chewing or swallowing before speaking, not like they had a lot of time before Chloe showed up.

 

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, rubbing a hand over his face. "I don't know, Lois," he admitted very softly.

She frowned at that, narrowing her eyes a little, "spill."

"There's nothing to spill," Oliver said quietly, not looking at her. "Not really." He began to wash the dishes in the sink, his back to her. "She's pushing me away."

"She's pushing _you_ away?" Lois said, surprised. She had gotten over the fact that her cousin felt better talking to Oliver over her a long time ago, he had a better idea of what had happened, even now, and as long as Chloe was letting someone in, she was okay with it.

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yeah, actually," Lois said, frowning hardly, "you're the only one she's been wanting close to her all the time."

He glanced at her, pausing for a moment. "Maybe I'm misinterpreting," he murmured.

With a sigh, she placed her plate on the table and crossed her arms, "tell me and I'll let you know."

"Tell you what?" He frowned.

"What she's doing, Ollie," she told him with a roll of her eyes, "if men were meant to understand the way women act, you'd all have vaginas too, c'mon."

Oliver rolled his eyes back at her. "She's talking to me less. Getting defensive when I try to talk to her. Sometimes I think she doesn't really want me around."

She considered for a moment, "what kind of subjects is she getting defensive over? Or is it everything?"

"It's pretty much everything," he said softly.

"Right..." she raised her eyebrows, "did you try asking her if she wants you to leave her alone?"

"Uh, yeah. That usually gets met with something akin to 'if that's what you want'."

Lois raised her eyebrows and her eyes widened a little, " _seriously_? Chloe is saying that to _you_?"

"I don't know what to make of it, Lois," he said softly, letting out a breath. "Does she _want_ me gone and just doesn't want to say so? Does she think I feel obligated to be here?"

At that, Lois blinked, her eyes widening a little more, "that... would make perfect sense, actually. The part about her thinking you feel obligated to be here, I mean, she might be giving you an easy out."

 

"I don't want an _out_ at all." He shook his head.

"I _know_ that," Lois said with a roll of her eyes, "but maybe she's testing you."

Oliver blew out a breath. "Great. So how do I convince her I'm here because I want to be?"

"Well..." she took a deep breath and ate another bite of pizza as she thought about it, "maybe she thinks you're just around because you feel responsible for everything that happened, that you just want to take care of her because she's messed up, I mean, you're a hero, it's what you do."

He _was_ responsible for what happened, but that was besides the point. "So what do I do, Lois?" he asked quietly.

"Let her take care of herself for a while." Lois told him, thinking, "you know, don't vanish on her but give her space and see how she handles that, then do something nice for her, you know, something boyfriend-y, take her on a date, so she will know it's not just about the whole playing hero thing."

Oliver gazed at her for a moment, letting her words sink in. "Yeah," he murmured. "Yeah, I can do that."

"I'll talk to her," Lois promised, finally sitting down in front of her food, "see if I can figure anything else out."

"All right." He was quiet for a moment. "Thanks, Lois." He drew in a breath and turned to head toward the door. "I'll see you later."

She raised her eyebrows then nodded a little, "should I tell her you went to work?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding, as well. "Because that's where I'm heading."

"Okay," she nodded, picking up her food once again, "I'll call you if my diagnoses changes. Otherwise, I'm heading to bed after this and if you call me and wake me up, I will hurt you."

Oliver raised an eyebrow with amusement. "You're still scary, Lois," he teased, heading out the door.

* * *

A few minutes later, Chloe made her way out to the kitchen, she had already been rehearsing what she was going to tell Oliver, so she was more than a little surprised when she saw her cousin sitting there instead, "Lois?" She asked, frowning.

"Stealing your food again," Lois informed her with a bright grin.

"I can see that," she said, but didn't smile, she was too busy looking around, a slight frown on her face.

"He had to go to work," she told her cousin.

"Oh," Chloe frowned a little, looking around then looking back at Lois, it wasn't usual for Oliver to leave for work without talking to her, but maybe her plan was starting to work. The tightness in her chest, however, made her wonder if she was ready for it to work.

Lois studied her for a moment. "So how are things going between you guys these days?" she asked casually.

Shrugging a little, she moved to the coffee pot, not surprised to find it full, Oliver didn't really drink coffee, but he always made it for her. "The same." She said quietly.

"Oh. Well, that's good, right?" She ate the last bite of her pizza.

"Yeah," she agreed, not really thinking about it as she grabbed her mug and poured herself coffee.

Lois watched her intently, chewing. "I was thinking of doing some shopping later. Interested?"

Chloe considered for a moment then shook her head, "I was thinking of checking on the foundation, see how things are going, I'll probably be there most of the day."

"Oh." She nodded a little. A few weeks ago, Chloe had, with Oliver's help, opened a place called the Isis Foundation--a center to help those who had been afflicted with meteor infections. It wasn't fully operational yet, still in the early stages of starting up, but she knew the place meant a lot to her cousin.

"Yeah," she took a deep breath and looked down at her coffee, trying to shake the anxiety that had been building up since she realized Oliver wasn't there.

"How's that going, anyway?" she asked curiously.

"Slow," Chloe told her cousin, sipping on her coffee before finally and reluctantly turning to face her.

Lois met her eyes. "Well, things like that take time. Even if you wish you could just skip over parts of it."

"We don't have time, Lois, those people need help." She told her cousin, somehow managing to pull herself into the conversation a little more.

"They do," Lois agreed with a nod. "But the doors aren't ready to be flung open yet, Chlo. It's gonna be awhile. It's gonna take a lot of work."

She sighed deeply and sipped on her coffee, "I will see what I can do."

"You don't have to do all of it alone, you know. I mean, granted, I work full time at the Planet, but I'm more than happy to help with whatever on the side." Lois gazed at her.

"I know you are," Chloe said, glancing down at the coffee again, "but you have your own life, Lois, I should have mine."

"I'm not saying you shouldn't, Chlo." Lois shifted in her chair. "But we _are_ family. I'm sure when I need help with an article, I could count on you to help me out, right?"

"This is something _I_ need to do," she said, her expression blank, "but I will keep that in mind if I really need help."

She sighed softly and looked down at the table for a moment. "All right," she said.

"I should go," Chloe told her, turning around and placing her mostly full cup inside the sink, her chest still tight and she didn't want to be with her cousin because aside from Oliver, she was one of the few people who could read her.

"Chloe?"

Her jaw clenched a little as she tried to keep her expression neutral, "yeah?"

Lois rose to her feet and moved over to stand in front of Chloe. "I love you." Her words were quiet, but sincere. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cousin's cheek. "Have a good day, okay?"

Despite her best effort, her eyes teared up and she pursed her lips together tightly. She wanted to ask Lois if Oliver seemed like he was mad at her, she wanted to ask her cousin to come with her, but she forced herself to stay quiet, because this was what she wanted, she wanted to go do things on her own without Oliver or Lois or J'onn holding her hand through it, she had never needed anyone to hold her hand through _anything_ before and she wanted to be able to feel like herself again and go and do what she wanted without anyone staring at her and wondering if she could make it on her own. The problem was, _she_ didn't know if she could make it on her own.

* * *

It was hours later when Oliver made his way into the Isis Foundation, looking around the empty waiting area and then heading for the elevator that would take him up to Chloe's office. He'd stopped by her apartment only to hear from Lois that she was working late. He waited for the elevator doors to open up, hiding the bouquet of yellow tulips behind his back and hoping she hadn't spotted him on the security camera. He wanted to surprise her.

Chloe was proud of herself for managing over thirteen hours in there, thirteen hours without seeing or even contacting Oliver at all, or any of the other people she usually spoke with during the day. She had had to hide herself in her office a couple of times when people got too close or there were too many of them, but she doubted they had noticed anything strange at all, at least she thought she had managed to sound convincing with her, 'I need to make a couple of phonecalls' excuse.

It was getting pretty late, but still, she had no plans on leaving the office. She was going over the doctors that Dr. Hamilton had indicated, trying to figure out which ones would be the best ones for the facility both in terms of patient care and secrecy, she was so focused, she didn't hear the footsteps at all.

Oliver found her in her office, sitting behind her desk and staring down at some files in front of her. He smiled faintly when she didn't even look up. Then he reached out and knocked on the door. "Special delivery." His voice was light.

Her heart was in her throat instantly and she sat up, her eyes wide as she turned to look in direction of the door, her hand going to her chest when she realized it was him and let out her breath, "God, Oliver..."

The smile faded almost instantly. "Sorry," he said, shaking his head. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Nodding a little, she leaned back against her chair and rubbed a hand over her face, "it's okay." She said quietly.

"Long day?" Oliver leaned against the doorframe for a moment.

"Yeah," she looked up at him and pursed her lips together, "you?"

"Always," he said with a small smile. He hesitated a moment, then held up the bouquet of flowers.

Chloe blinked and sat up a little, looking at the tulips then up at him, confused even as her chest tightened at the gesture, "what's that for?" She asked quietly.

"I missed you today," he admitted, stepping inside her office and holding them out to her.

She pushed her chair back and stood up, taking the flowers carefully from him, "thank you," she whispered, looking at him for a moment before looking down at the flowers.

Oliver nodded, watching her for a few seconds. "Have you had dinner? I thought maybe we could grab some Chinese or something."

"Oh," she shook her head, "I haven't eaten."

A genuine smile touched his lips and he offered her his arm.

She watched him for a moment then adjusted the flowers in her arm before picking up her purse and walking around the desk, her heart beating quickly as she slid her arm through his.

Oliver relaxed a little, guiding her out the door. "You look beautiful," he told her.

Chloe frowned a little and looked down at herself, shaking her head a little, this wasn't usual for them, "I've been here all day."

"Yeah, but you always look beautiful to me." He kissed her temple, leading her onto the elevator.

She walked with him silently for a moment then cocked her head to look at him, "why are you doing this?"

He glanced down at her. "Doing what?" he asked uncertainly.

"Being... like this," she said quietly, not sure how to use her words, which never really happened with her.

Oliver paused. "You mean taking you out for dinner?"

"That and... bringing me flowers and being complimentary," she said quietly, glancing at the flowers then at him, a mix of curiosity and suspicious in her eyes.

"Because...you're my girlfriend." He gazed down at her as the elevator began to descend.

She looked at him for a moment then nodded, looking back down at the tulips. It felt like something _normal_ , something that people just did on a regular basis. Work all day, meet with their significant other, go have dinner. They had never done something like that before because she had always been locked inside her apartment, maybe this was a step in the right direction. She took a deep breath and nodded a little, glancing up at him and smiling slightly. "thank you."

Oliver smiled back at her. "You're welcome." He patted her hand lightly.

Chloe hugged his arm a little, not feeling bad for doing so, she had managed an entire day without him as it was.

He kissed her temple once more, leading her off the elevator once the doors slid open. He'd been thinking about doing this all day, had been worried what her reaction might be. But it looked like Lois might have just been right after all. "So does Chinese sound good? Or would you rather have Italian or something else?"

She walked with him, considering for a moment. If they had Chinese, they could just pick it up and go home and be away from people, but Italian was her favorite and it didn't taste the same if they had it take out, it was much better if they ate it fresh at the restaurant, which meant she would have to put herself through another test, "I think... Italian, if that's okay with you."

"Sounds good to me," he agreed. "Can't go wrong with Italian." He smiled at her again, meeting her eyes for a moment.

Chloe smiled a little more and held his gaze then stopped walking, holding on to his arm and forcing him to do the same, once he did, she tiptoed closer, despite her heels, and kissed him softly. She always had to be the one to initiate their kisses, but she knew why he wouldn't do it and she was okay with it, she liked having control over the situation. It made it safer, not that it had ever felt anything but completely safe with Oliver.

Oliver returned the kiss without hesitation, brushing his nose lightly against hers. "I love you," he whispered, kissing the corner of her mouth.

"I love you too," she said quietly, lifting a hand to touch his cheek.

He lifted a hand to her cheek as well, brushing his thumb lightly over her skin.

She leaned into his touch and looked up at him, smiling a little more as she realized just how peaceful it felt to be with him, apparently, she had forgotten that with the tumultuous weeks they'd had.

He smiled, meeting her eyes and leaning his forehead against hers. "So we're close to Little Italy's, but if you'd rather go to one of other Italian places, that's okay too."

"No, we can go there," she told him, it was the place she always went to when she worked at the Planet, a lifetime ago.

Oliver kissed her cheek, reaching up and taking her hand, sliding his fingers through hers. "All right."

"Okay," she told him quietly, kissing him on the lips once more and smiling softly before pulling back and starting to walk again.

Biting his lip, he grinned, following her without hesitation as she tugged him along.

She could do this, if she came in every day and worked long hours, it kept her busy, kept her from wanting to reach out to the people around her and make her feel weak. If she focused on work, maybe it would be easier to put everything that happened behind her.


	2. Road to Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)

Title: Road to Redemption  
Authors: [](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/profile)[**chloeas**](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**dl_greenarrow**](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: R  
Author's Note: This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)  
Note 2: Just to clarify something--the title is not related to Chloe, even though this very Chloe-centric. She's done nothing she needs to be redeemed for. So.  
Disclaimer: They are SO not ours. But we'd like them to be.

Lois Lane tapped her foot as she waited for the elevator doors to open, and when she did, she approached her cousin's office on the top floor with quick, short steps. She was a woman on a mission and she wasn't going to be detoured. Reaching out, she knocked on the door and raised her eyebrows, flashing her cousin a smile that clearly said she was up to something.

Chloe raised her head and immediately raised her eyebrows when she saw the look on Lois' face, that was never good, "what?"

Her smile only brightened at the suspicion on her cousin's face. "You. Me. Lunch. Now."

"What?" Chloe repeated, shaking her head, "why?"

 

 

"Because I'm starving."

Chloe shook her head a little, still looking suspiciously at her cousin, "where do you wanna go?"

"Dirty's," Lois said without hesitation, raising her eyebrows. "I need greasy food and I need it now."

Pursing her lips together, Chloe glanced at the clock then sighed deeply, "okay, but I can't be long, Emil is meeting me here in about an hour."

"I'll have you back with time to spare," she responded, holding up her car keys with a smirk.

"How much coffee did you have?" Chloe asked reluctantly as she stood up and took Lois' keys from her, "I'm driving."

Lois rolled her eyes at that. "Only four cups so far. Not that much."

That really wasn't all that much for her cousin, which was weird that it was making Lois _this_ hyper, "okay, well, maybe food will be good for you."

"And you. Because it's lunchtime and I know you didn't eat breakfast because Ollie didn't cook this morning. I checked and there was no food when I let myself in. So unless you went to breakfast without me--and I'm fairly certain you didn't--then you have to be starving too, so let's drive fast because my stomach is rumbling."

Chloe just stared at her for a long moment then followed her out of the office and to the elevators, this was way more hyper than usual, even for her cousin.

 

 

"I'm thinking a big greasy burger with a ton of fries and a milkshake. What about you?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," Chloe agreed quietly, "did you not have dinner last night?"

Lois arched her eyebrows. "Me? Miss dinner? You're kidding, right?"

"Well, maybe you got caught up with work?" She suggested, "but I guess that's a no."

"Nope." She paused for a moment. "I had a visitor at the Planet last night."

"Oh?" Chloe frowned, instantly alarmed, "what visitor?"

"Clark Kent," Lois told her, her jaw tensing a little.

Her eyes widened a little, " _what_?" Chloe frowned, "why?"

"He wanted to know where we moved to. Apparently he went by the clocktower and Ollie wouldn't tell him, so he tracked me down instead."

"So he wanted to know where we were living just because?" Chloe asked, still frowning.

 

 

"No. He wanted to know so he could come and see you," Lois informed her.

"What for?" Chloe asked again.

"I didn't ask," she said with a shrug.

"Well, that's something to look forward to, I guess," she said with a roll of her eyes.

 

 

"Are you kidding me? You think I actually _gave_ our address to him?"

Chloe paused and smiled a little, shaking her head as they stepped out of the elevator and out of the building, "he'll figure it out eventually."

"And eventually, after I hit him with a baseball bat enough times, he'll get the idea he's not wanted."

She shook her head a little and smiled, "that'd be quite entertaining," she told Lois as she got on the driver's seat of her cousin's car.

"I still can't believe the idiot accused you of trying to hurt me intentionally. He's known you what? Like, over ten years? What the hell?" she grumbled, her mood shifting as crawled into the passenger seat.

"Yeah, well," Chloe shrugged, glancing over at her cousin, "clearly he hasn't thought highly of me for a while."

 

"That's because he's a blind fucking moron," Lois informed her, leaning back in the seat and putting her seatbelt on.

Frowning, she looked over at her cousin even as she started the car, "let it go, Lo, it's not worth it. I'll deal with him when he comes by."

"It _is_ worth it," she argued. "He doesn't deserve to have you in his life, much less as a friend. Screw him."

"Did he say something else to you?" Chloe asked worriedly.

"No." Lois folded her arms across her chest.

Chloe frowned a little, "you seem awfully upset over nothing, Lois," she told here, making a turn.

"It's not _nothing_."

"It's nothing new," Chloe pointed out as she pulled into the parking lot moments later, they could have just walked there, but this felt safer.

"Yeah, well. The anger bubbles up every time I see him."

"Okay, well, maybe the food will help you," Chloe said, raising her eyebrows as she stepped out of the car, "c'mon."

Lois climbed out of the car, as well, and then shut the door behind her, heading toward the entrance of Dirty's and pulling it open for Chloe.

Once inside, Chloe chose a booth toward the back and sat down. She planned on ordering as soon as possible to keep Lois from biting someone's head off, "are you gonna have the usual?"

"Of course." She flashed her cousin a grin, the subject of Clark temporarily dropped.

Chloe relaxed a little and smiled at the waiter as he came toward them, she placed the other for both of them, "there, not much longer and you can eat."

"Excellent. I'm starving." Lois leaned back in the booth and glanced around the restaurant, then at her cousin.

"Really? I would never have guessed," she said, teasing.

She smirked and promptly stuck her tongue out at Chloe. "You wouldn't have me any other way and you know it."

"Of course not." She smiled and leaned back against the booth, "how are things at the Planet?"

"Much better lately," Lois told her.

"And with Arthur?"

At that, she smiled and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. "Good." She was thoughtful for a moment. "He's a really great guy."

"He is," Chloe agreed smiling at the expression on her cousin's face, "I'm glad things worked out between the two of you."

Lois studied her for a moment, nodding a little. "Speaking of working things out...how was your date with Ollie last night?"

Frowning a little, she raised her eyebrows, "how do you know about that?"

She leaned forward a little. "He came by last night looking for you and had a bouquet of flowers." She shrugged.

"Oh," she shrugged and smiled softly, "it was nice."

Lois returned the smile, relaxing. "Good. Glad to hear it."

"Did you talk him into it?" She asked, cocking her head.

"Into bringing you flowers?" She frowned. "No, that was all Ollie."

Chloe looked at Lois for a moment then nodded, "it was good, it was different."

"Different how?" Lois asked curiously.

"Well, date-y? I don't know, different," Chloe said quietly, looking up as the waiter brought them their milkshakes.

She immediately snatched hers up and took a long drink from it. "But that's good right. I mean he is technically your boyfriend, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Chloe said, raising her eyebrows a little as she watched her cousin, picking up the cherry from her own milkshake and eating it, "but it's different, it's not a normal relationship."

"Well, of course not." She shrugged at that, taking another drink and leaning back in the booth. "Neither is my relationship with AC."

"I guess so," Chloe agreed even though they both knew they were different for different reasons, "I just wasn't expecting it."

 

Lois was silent for a moment, leaning her arms on the table. "Even though things started out one way, they changed into another. Is that what you wanted?"

Chloe raised her eyebrows, surprised at the sudden insight Lois seemed to have in their relationship. "It was what I wanted before everything happened."

She paused at that. "And you're not sure it is now?"

"It _is_ ," she took a deep breath, "I love him, Lo. But I just want to make sure it is what he wants too."

Lois gazed at her for a moment, then fiddled with the straw in her milkshake. "He loves you. It's not just..." She glanced around then lowered her voice. "It's not just because he feels guilty or responsible for what happened."

With another deep breath, Chloe nodded, "I hope you're right."

"I know I'm right," she said confidently, glancing up as the waitress brought their plates. She popped a fry into her mouth, and her face suddenly paled.

"We'll s--" Chloe stopped talking at the look on her cousin's face, "are you okay?"

Without responding, Lois leapt to her feet and made a beeline to the bathroom.

Chloe was right after her seconds later, her eyes widening as she walked into the bathroom and heard Lois being sick.

A few moments later, Lois made her way out of the bathroom stall, looking more than a little green. "Okay. Remind me that milkshakes don't mix with coffee." She grimaced, leaning against the sink.

Stepping closer to her, Chloe raised her eyebrows and placed a hand on her back, "clearly they don't, maybe you went too long without food."

 

"Probably woulda been fine if I'd had breakfast," she agreed, blowing out a breath and turning the cold water on. She cupped her hands underneath the stream and splashed it on her face.

"Why don't we get some to go boxes and I drive you home?" She suggested, watching Lois with concern.

"I have to get back to the Planet." She sighed. "I'll be fine. I'll just...drink some 7UP."

"Lois," Chloe said sternly and shook her head, "you can work from home, I'll bring you some crackers or something that will be easy on your stomach."

Lois raised an eyebrow. "Did you just use a 'mother' tone on me?" she asked suspiciously.

"No," Chloe raised her eyebrows, "it's worried cousin tone, c'mon."

She sighed again. "Right, fine. Fine."

* * *

When Oliver got done patrolling that night, he made his way to Isis, and was glad to find that Chloe had apparently already gone home.

Or so he thought.

When he made his way into her apartment, he searched every room--twice--and found that she apparently hadn't been home either.

Which was when the knot formed in his gut. His heart began to pound heavily in his chest. Picking up his cell phone, he dialed hers, his worry worsening when he got her voicemail instantly.

He made his way down the steps and knocked on Lois' apartment door, waiting anxiously. When there was no response, he grimaced and hesitantly pulled his keys out of his pocket. His _emergency_ only keys. He unlocked the door and slipped inside, listening for a moment.

"Lois?" he whispered. He knew it was late, but Lois rarely went to bed early.

Hell, maybe she was still at the Planet. Maybe Chloe was at the Planet _with_ her.

Chloe sighed deeply at the quiet noises around the apartment, she half expected it to be Lois getting up, but when she heard her snoring, she opened her eyes and frowned, it was completely dark, she had meant to just lay down with Lois for a while, but apparently, it was night time already.

Oliver hesitated before heading into what he assumed was Lois' bedroom, hoping like hell he wasn't about to be witness to some horrifying sight like AC and Lois in bed--together. Not sleeping.

At the quiet sound of footsteps, Chloe figured it was either Arthur or Oliver, or some highly trained burglar, because they were being so quiet, she could barely hear them over the quiet sound of her own breathing. Rubbing her hands over her face, she moved to a sitting position as gently as possible not wake Lois up.

 

He peered into the darkness, seeing two figures on the bed. He paused when he saw one of them sitting up. "Chloe?" he whispered.

"Shh." She told him quietly, standing up and waving for him to move to the corridor.

Oliver let out a breath, rubbing a hand over his face and leading the way out into the hallway.

 

Once she was out of the room, she pulled the door shut behind her and turned on the hallway light, closing her eyes instantly at the brightness and grunting a little.

"You all right?" he whispered, worry tinging his voice.

"Yeah," she sighed, opening her eyes and frowning when she realized he was wearing his uniform, "are you going on patrol?"

"No, I just...got back actually," he said softly, meeting her eyes.

"Oh," she raised her eyebrows, "it's already that late?"

"After one," he told her, hesitantly reaching out and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Chloe let out a breath and leaned into his touch, letting her eyes close for a second, "I'm okay," she told him quietly, "Lo isn't feeling well."

 

"Oh," he whispered, nodding a little and leaning in, kissing her forehead.

"I just meant to lay down with her for a while," she whispered quietly, stepping closer, "I guess we both fell asleep."

Oliver exhaled slowly. "I went by Isis and then when I couldn't find you upstairs..."

"Oh," Chloe lifted her head to look up at him, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you."

"It's okay. I'm just glad you're all right."

Pursing her lips together, she nodded then tiptoed and kissed him softly, "I'm okay."

He kissed her back, closing his eyes and touching her cheek once more. "All right."

She brushed her hands over his exposed arms and cocked her head a little, "how are you?"

A smile quirked his lips. "A little cold," he admitted. "But somehow I think I'll survive."

"Your arms are cold," she agreed, rubbing her palms over his skin to try and warm him up.

"I'll be okay," he assured her. "How's Lois? She okay? I coud call Emil."

"I already called him, he said it was probably a twenty-four hour bug," she told him, her hands still rubbing his arms, "but he will come by if she's still not better tomorrow."

Oliver nodded. "Good. That's good." He gazed at her intently.

Chloe held his gaze then leaned in and kissed him once more, slowly.

He shut his eyes, returning the kiss without hesitation and sliding his free arm around her waist.

She relaxed and lifted her arms, wrapping them around his neck and hugging him as she kissed him.

He brushed his nose against hers, kissing the corner of her mouth tenderly.

Letting out a breath, she kissed the corner of his mouth too, then his cheek. She wanted to kiss him more, keep him close, keep her hands on him, but she knew it wasn't fair, she couldn't work him up just to pull away and leave him hanging.

After a moment, he leaned his forehead against hers, his thumb rubbing lightly over her hip as he pulled away.

"We should get you warm," she whispered, lifting a hand to his hair and running her fingers through it.

"What about Lois?" he asked softly, nodding back toward the bedroom.

"I'll give Arthur a call," she told him, "make sure he's coming back here after he's done with patrol."

Oliver kissed her cheek softly. "All right," he agreed.

Chloe kissed him once more then reluctantly pulled back, surprised that for the first time since she could remember, her body just wanted to be a lot closer to his. But she knew she wasn't ready for that yet.

He smiled softly at her, his eyes filled with warmth. "Meet you upstairs?"

"Yeah," she told him quietly, smiling a little as she dropped her arms from around him completely.

He kissed her cheek again, then backed away, down the hall.

Chloe watched him go and smiled to herself before making her way to the office to give Arthur a call. Maybe he had been right about her not being broken, and maybe if they did more couple-like stuff, she'd be more comfortable with this kind of thing soon.


	3. Road to Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)

Title: Road to Redemption  
Authors: [](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/profile)[**chloeas**](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**dl_greenarrow**](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: R  
Author's Note: This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)  
Note 2: Just to clarify something--the title is not related to Chloe, even though this very Chloe-centric. She's done nothing she needs to be redeemed for. So.  
Disclaimer: They are SO not ours. But we'd like them to be.

It had taken him two days to find her apartment.

He'd tried going to Oliver's first and the other man had given him such an icy glare that if he hadn't been Kryptonian, Clark probably would have been as frozen as his fortress in the Arctic.

If anything, the glare he got from Lois was actually worse.

Yet some part of him knew he'd deserved it. Knew that the way he'd ignored Oliver's warnings about Lex had been wrong. That he'd let her down worse than he'd ever done in the past. And he missed her.

Between the guilt and the loneliness, Clark knew he had to find her one way or another and when he finally did, he stood on her doorstep for nearly twenty minutes before he got up the nerve to actually knock.

Chloe had been getting ready in her room when she heard the knock, she frowned and looked in the direction of the hallway, no one _knocked_ , at least no one that would come by unexpected, the boys usually called before coming over and Ollie, Lois and Arthur had their own keys. She brushed her hands over the side of her top and looked at herself in the mirror, she hoped it wasn't Oliver because she wasn't anywhere near ready, not with the trying to decide what to wear for the past hour and half.

With a deep breath, she walked over to the door, her high heels clicking on floor as she did and she made a face, she should have checked on who it was before actually letting them know someone was home, but she was pretty sure it was too late now. Her stomach was in knots as she reached the door, pursing her lips together, she frowned when she looked through the peephole, it was the last person she would have expected, but now she knew for sure he most definitely _had_ heard her, regardless of her heels.

She rubbed her hands over her face then reached for the door, opening it slowly and looking up at him, "I didn't think it would take you long to find me."

 

Clark held his breath for a moment as the door opened. "I've been looking for a couple days." He paused. "Didn't have much luck with asking."

"I heard," she told him, considering for a moment before stepping aside.

He hesitated, then stepped inside, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking around, his eyes widening a little. "You're...really settled."

Pursing her lips together, she looked around the penthouse and nodded, "it's getting there." She agreed, then turned to look at him again.

 

He gazed at her for a moment. "I wanted to see how you were doing," he said quietly.

Chloe stared back at him, silent for a moment, then shrugged, the hunch on his shoulders and the guilt on his expression were hard to miss, "better."

"Good," he whispered. "You look better."

"How are you?" She forced herself to ask.

Clark nodded a little. "I'm good. Fine," he told her without hesitation.

"Good," she told him, nodding then looking away, toward the window then back, "was there anything else you wanted to know?"

He winced and looked down at the floor. "I was hoping maybe we could talk," he admitted. "It doesn't have to be now if you're busy. But maybe I could take you to lunch sometime soon?"

Chloe considered for a moment. She didn't want to go, but she felt like she had to, because he was Clark and somehow, he always seemed to be able to make her feel like she was letting him down if she didn't do what he expected her to. But she would do it on her terms, "I'll give you a call and let you know when I'm available, I've been busy."

Clark nodded a little. "Yeah, I heard about Isis," he admitted softly. "You're doing a good thing, Chlo."

"I hope so," she told him, watching him, sincerely surprised that he seemed to actually be making an effort.

He offered her a small smile, meeting her eyes. "All right. I'll uh--I'll go so you can get back to..." He motioned vaguely with his hand. "Whatever you were doing."

"Yeah, I need to finish getting ready, Ollie will be here soon." She told him, knowing exactly what she was saying and she said it just to see how he would react to Ollie's name. That should tell her just how much of this was Clark making an effort and how much of it it was just Clark trying to be in control.

Clark paused at that. "Are you guys going to dinner?" he asked uncertainly.

"To the Theater, actually," she told him, raising her eyebrows, "Phantom of the Opera is in town."

He looked at her with surprise. "I didn't know you liked musicals."

"I've never been to one, he thinks I will like it," she told him calmly, still watching his reactions closely and although they had been more controlled than she'd expected so far, she knew he was trying to grasp what exactly was going on between her and Oliver.

Clark watched her for a moment, then nodded. "I hope you have a good time," he said quietly. He offered her a smile. "Let me know how it is."

That actually surprised her a little more, he seemed to be determined not to ask directly, she nodded, "I will."

"Night, Chlo," he said softly, heading for the door once again.

"Bye, Clark." She told him, watching him but not stopping him, she planned on calling him sometime soon for lunch, but she would ask him to stop by Isis instead, she felt like she would be more comfortable talking to him there than inside of her home.

Oliver was walking up the drive when he spotted Clark, his jaw tightening involuntarily at the sight of the other man at Chloe's place. "Clark."

Clark blinked the frown that had formed on his face and lifted his head, raising his eyebrows when he saw the other man, "Oliver."

"What are you doing here?" He struggled to keep his voice even.

"I came to see Chloe," he said quietly.

He stared at Clark for a long moment. "Well, I have to admit, you really have nerve."

His jaw tightened just slightly, "I'm trying to apologize to her, Oliver."

"How's that working out for you?" he asked distantly.

Clark just stared at Oliver, but didn't say anything.

Shaking his head a little, he moved around Clark, heading for the door.

"You better not be taking advantage of her situation," Clark added before he could stop himself, but didn't turn around to look at Oliver.

He paused in his tracks, his muscles tensing as he turned around slowly to look at Clark. "Fuck you, Clark."

Clark turned to look at Oliver and raised his eyebrows a little, "I mean it, Oliver, and if I find out she's pushing me away because of _you_..."

 

Oliver stalked over to where Clark was standing, his eyes dark and narrowed. "If she's pushing you away, it's because of what _you've_ done, not what I've done. Frankly we don't talk about you at all," he said harshly.

"This is between Chloe and I. Just remember _that_ ," Clark said, staring at Oliver for a moment longer before turning around and walking away.

 

"No. You don't get to come in here after months and try to pick things back up right where you left them before you _abandoned_ her and then issue a warning to _me_. If Chloe wants to see you, that's her decision. But after what you've done, you don't _deserve_ to have anything to do with her." He glared at Clark's back.

 

Clark turned back once more and stared at Oliver, "like you said, it is _her_ decision."

"Yes, it is. And if she's not interested, you're going to respect that and if you don't, I'll have the boys bury so much green kryptonite in the yard of this apartment complex you won't be able to get within a mile of her without puking," Oliver said flatly.

"Chloe would _never_ agree to hurting me like that and if you do that, I will know it was _you_." Clark told him, his eyes wide with anger as his hands curled into fists.

 

"Damn right it would be me," he said without hesitation. "But I'm not going to let you hurt _her_ anymore than she's already been hurt."

"I'm not _Lex_ , Oliver, I would never hurt her!" Clark told him, his voice a little louder, "but she is fragile and _you_ are taking advantage of that and _controlling_ her!" He accused finally.

Oliver's jaw tightened and he suddenly wished he had some green K on him so he could slug Clark in the face and actually cause the man physical pain. "You already did hurt her, Clark. And I'm not taking advantage of anything," he said tensely, his hands curling into fists. "Let alone controlling her."

" _I_ will be the judge of that," Clark told him tightly.

That earned him a harsh laugh. "Guess what? You lost the right to judge _anything_ about me or Chloe, or our relationship the day you decided to believe she was with Lex Luthor _willingly_ without any proof to back up your assumption. So you can go straight to hell for all I care."

"That's how _you_ see things, Oliver. But it's not Chloe's opinion and hers is all I care about." Clark told him tightly before turning around and walking away.

"We'll see," Oliver muttered, still tense as he, too, turned away.

* * *

Chloe had barely been able to finish changing, this time into the clothes she really was going to wear, when she heard the apartment door opening, she raised her eyebrows a little and poked her head out of the room and raised her eyebrows when she saw Oliver, "you're early."

He forced himself to take a deep breath to calm his anger, rubbing the back of his neck as he met her eyes. "Yeah, hope that's okay."

"Yeah," she told him then frowned a little, taking in his posture, "what's wrong?" She asked then frowned harder, "you ran into Clark." She answered her own question before he had a chance to.

 

He blinked at that. He should have figured she'd realize what his tension was about. "It's no big deal."

It only made sense, considering Clark had just left, "what did he do?"

"Nothing, Chloe," he told her softly, shaking his head. "Are you all right?" He studied her, trying to gauge _her_ reaction to having seen him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said firmly and took a step closer, "but I'll be even better if you stop trying to protect me and tell me what he did."

Oliver sighed softly, looking away, his jaw tightening. "Clark seems to think that I'm the reason you're pushing him away."

She raised her eyebrows then smirked humorlessly, "of course he does, it couldn't possibly be because of something _he_ did."

"God forbid Clark own up to his part," he muttered.

"He's not going to," Chloe told Oliver, "but we know better."

He looked up at her, his expression unreadable. "Yeah, we do."

"What else, Oliver?" She asked, frowning at the blank expression on his face.

 

"He said I was taking advantage of you." His voice was quiet, and part of him couldn't help but wonder if Clark was right about that.

And if that was bothering him, it could only mean that, "and you _believed_ him?" She asked incredulously.

Oliver blew out a breath, leaning against the wall, eyes downcast. "You've been through hell," he said softly. "And if I have, at any point, taken advantage of that, I'm sorry because that's the last thing I want to do, Chloe."

"Oliver..." she shook her head and stepped closer, "you can't be serious, you have done nothing but help me and support me through _all_ of this and you never asked me for _anything_ in all of this time. All you have done is help me with everything I've asked you to without once questioning me."

He gazed at her intently, relaxing a little when he saw how serious she was. Wordlessly he reached out and took her hand, raising it to his mouth and kissing the back of it. "There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you," he whispered.

She squeezed his hand and held his gaze, her jaw still set, she would definitely be inviting Clark over for lunch now, as soon as possible, "I know," she told Oliver quietly, he had, after all, murdered Lex for her and she couldn't think of anything bigger than that, "don't ever listen to Clark, Ollie, he has no idea what our lives are like."

Oliver nodded slightly, letting out another breath. "I know. You're right," he murmured. "Look, Chloe." His voice was quiet. "If you want Clark in your life, that's completely your decision. I'll respect it." He looked down. "But I'm not sure I'll ever be able to forgive him."

"I'm glad," she said seriously, "because even if I manage to, I will need someone to remind me why I shouldn't trust him."

He rose to full height once more, hesitating for a second before sliding his arms around her. Pressing a kiss to her temple, he murmured, "I love you."

With a deep breath, she wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes, "I love you," she whispered to him.

He closed his eyes, too, holding onto her tightly. "How's Lois today?"

"She was sick again when she woke up, but she got better after that," she told him quietly, keeping her eyes closed and turning her head a little, brushing her nose against his jaw.

"Maybe just a twenty-four bug thing then," he murmured, relaxing a little more as he held her.

"Yeah, she looked a lot better when I saw her," Chloe told him quietly, even as she thought about the conversation she'd have with Clark the following day in the back of her head.

Oliver lifted a hand to her hair, smoothing it back gently. "You still up for Phantom?" he asked softly.

Chloe smiled a little, deciding at that moment to leave the plotting of the Clark conversation for the following morning instead, "yeah," she told Oliver, turning her head to look up at him, "I need to finish getting ready."

He smiled back at her, meeting her eyes. "All right." He kissed her forehead.

She pressed a kiss to his lips then smiled a little more, "I won't be long." She promised.

He grinned, kissing her back and brushing his nose against hers. "Okay."

Chloe couldn't help but grin softly back at him as she pulled back, she took a deep breath and started toward the bedroom again, relieved that she seemed to have managed to get him to relax.

* * *

_She turned on the bed a little, she could feel Oliver laying behind her, his arm around her and she frowned, eyes still closed. She didn't like sleeping with him behind her, so she turned around, but as she did, she felt something wet on the her pillow, blinking her eyes open, she turned her head, "Ollie?" She mumbled sleepily, lifting her head a little to look at him, her eyes widening as she realized that the liquid on the pillow was something dark._

_"Ollie!" She screamed, reaching over to shake him awake, but as she did, he turned on his back and her stomach turned at the sight of the bullet hole on his forehead. "Ollie, no," she shook him again, but he didn't move, he was staring blankly up at the ceiling and there was blood everywhere._

_And then a low chuckle came from a corner of the room and a shiver ran down her spine. She turned around just in time to see him coming out of the shadows._

_"You didn't think you would get rid of me that easily, did you?" Lex said smoothly as he stepped closer to her side of the bed._

_"What did you do?" She asked, her voice shaking as she stared up at him with wide eyes._

_"What is fair, Chloe," he told her, kneeling on the edge of the bed and leaning over her, "exactly what he did to me." He smirked and her stomach turned, she could smell him, could feel his breath on her mouth as he leaned even closer, "I told you I owned you."_

_He pushed her down against the bed and wrapped his fingers around her throat, "you are mine!" He said loudly._

_"No!" She gasped, kicking him but even though he was on top of her, she couldn't seem to find him, couldn't reach him, "Ollie!" She cried, closing her eyes tightly and tugging on Oliver's hand as hard as she could._

 

Oliver was awakened by a sudden kick to the knee and a startled scream. It took him only a few seconds to realize where he was--as Chloe thrashed violently in the bed beside him. "Chloe!" He reached out and caught her hand gently, giving it a tender squeeze so as not to frighten her even more. "Hey, it's okay. You're having a bad dream. Wake up, Chloe."

Her eyes shot open when he squeezed her hand and she sat up, gasping for air, her free hand going around her throat, then she suddenly turned to face him, her eyes wide as she tried to focus on his face.

"Chloe? It's okay," he whispered, reaching up and carefully taking her other hand in his. "You're safe."

She was breathing heavily as she took one hand from his and even though it was shaking, she reached up and touched his forehead with her fingertips.

His eyebrows furrowed a little at her actions, but didn't pull away from her. After a moment, he reached over and turned on the bedside lamp. "Everything's okay," he murmured.

Once he turned on the light, she looked around the room quickly, making sure they were alone before taking a deep, shaky breath and wrapping her arms around Ollie's neck, "he shot you." She whispered.

Oliver shut his eyes, wrapping her arms around her in return. "No," he whispered back. "I'm right here. I'm okay."

Chloe shifted closed and shuddered at the memory of the dream, instinctively tightening her arms around him.

He rubbed her back gently, keeping her close. "He didn't shoot me," he murmured. "We're both safe."

Her body started to relax a little and she took another deep breath before looking up at him, "thank you," she whispered.

He kissed her temple softly, nodding against her. "No problem."

She sighed deeply and leaned heavily against him, "I thought they had stopped," she murmured, defeated. It had been weeks since her last nightmare, she thought they were over, that she was finally able to shake them off, but she'd been wrong and now, he was invading her _home_ , her safe place.

Oliver was quiet for a moment and he shifted in the bed, leaning back against the headboard and keeping her close to him. Stroking her hair gently, he kissed the top of her head. "It's not a straight line," he whispered, resting his head against hers.

She adjusted and nodded a little, "I know, but I want to get rid of him completely." She looked up at him, her eyes big, "I'm tired." She whispered.

He met her eyes and nodded slightly, cupping her cheek in his hand. "I know, Chloe. And you'll get there."

Chloe let her head lean against his touch and nodded a little, looking up at him, "thank you for being here." She said quietly, she always told him that when she had a nightmare because she knew she'd have been even more horrified if she was by herself.

"Wouldn't be anywhere else," he said softly.

She lifted her hand to his cheek, "I don't want you to get hurt because of me." She whispered before she realized she was actually saying the words out loud.

Oliver turned his head to kiss her palm. "He's gone," he whispered back. "He's not coming back, remember?" His words were gentle. "So we're safe."

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little, "can we get Bart to check again tomorrow, just in case?"

His chest tightened a little at her words. "Absolutely," he agreed without hesitation, kissing her forehead.

Chloe moved her arms until they were wrapped under his arms and laid her head on his shoulder, she knew it was silly, she had seen the bullet going through Lex's head with her own eyes, but every now and then, she would ask Bart to go to the island where he had buried Lex to make sure his body was still there and that he hadn't somehow miraculously come back to life and crawled his way out of his grave.

She had met people who came back to life before, herself included.

"Everything's gonna be okay," he whispered, still rubbing her back. "I promise, Chloe." He exhaled slowly, closing his eyes. He wished there was something he could do for her, some way to make all the nightmares and the pain and the fear stop. But he knew in the long run all he could do was be there for her. It was what both J'onn and Joyce Smith from the rape crisis center had told him, and he knew they were right.

Nodding, she sighed deeply and lifted her head, kissing his jaw, "you're so amazing, Ollie. Thank you."

Oliver smiled faintly at that, and looked down at her. "Rest," he whispered. "I'll be right here."

She nodded, watching him for a moment then reaching and touching his forehead again, looking at him for a long moment then kissing him slowly.

The action caught him a little off guard but he kissed her softly anyway, a comforting, reassuring kiss.

Chloe brushed her fingertips from his forehead to his cheek as she kissed him slowly, relaxing as she did, feeling his warm lips against her, smelling _his_ comforting, welcoming smell and feeling his arms around her. She paid attention to all the details, all the contrasts and how differently he made her feel.

"I love you," he whispered against her lips, nuzzling his nose against hers, relaxing as she did the same.

"I love you," she echoed, keeping her eyes closed as she laid her head against his chest, listening to his heart.

He laid his head against the headboard as she relaxed in his arms, and he let his eyes drift shut once more. Tomorrow he'd send Bart to make sure Lex was still in his grave--not because he doubted it, but because he knew it was the only thing that would set Chloe's mind at ease.


	4. Road to Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)

Title: Road to Redemption  
Authors: [](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/profile)[**chloeas**](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**dl_greenarrow**](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: R  
Author's Note: This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)  
Note 2: Just to clarify something--the title is not related to Chloe, even though this very Chloe-centric. She's done nothing she needs to be redeemed for. So.  
Disclaimer: They are SO not ours. But we'd like them to be.

Chloe had made her way into Isis at about nine that morning, Ollie had dropped her off on his way to Queen Industries and she hadn't mentioned anything about her lunch plans for the day, she didn't want him to worry about her. But as soon as she got in, she called Clark and he agreed to pick up food and come by to meet her around twelve thirty, she had done some work since then, but she had spend most of the time thinking about what she wanted to say to him.

When she heard the elevator dinging down the hallway at twelve thirty-one, she smirked a little and took a deep breath, then leaned back against her chair and waited.

Clark walked down the hallway, feeling both nervous and calm at the same time. Nervous because he wanted things to go back to the way they had been between them before and calm because he felt somewhat assured that they would because Chloe, after all, had called the very next day. "Hey. I got pizza," he told her with a soft smile as he stepped into her office.

"I see," she said with a nod, giving him a contained smile, "would you mind closing the door, I wouldn't want us to be interrupted."

Not thinking anything of it, he shut the door and set the pizza down on her desk. "Place looks good."

"Thank you," she told him, closing her laptop and pushing it aside, along with her paperwork.

"Welcome," he said, sitting down across from her and offering her a soft smile. "How are you doing today? I was...surprised you called so soon," he admitted.

Chloe raised her eyebrows and nodded a little, "me too, actually. But I didn't think this should wait."

"Good. I'm glad," he told her softly, opening the pizza box.

She glanced down at the pizza then back at Clark, watching as he pulled a slice and lifted it to his mouth, "Ollie mentioned running into you outside my apartment last night," she said casually.

His jaw tightened just a little. "Oh?" He took a bite.

"Yeah," she pushed her chair back and stood up, "you know, when you stopped by, I could tell that you were dying to know what is going on between Ollie and I and somehow, you managed to stop yourself from asking," she rounded her desk and looked down at him, "I know it was a big effort on your part and I appreciated it because honestly, Clark? It's none of your business."

Clark didn't look up at her even as she rounded the desk. He just nodded a little.

"See, I thought you understood that," she said when he nodded, "which is why I was willing to give you a chance and talk to you and see if we could figure out where to go from there," she spoke as she walked behind him, "but then," she smiled and shook her head as she stepped around the other end of her desk and leaned back against it, looking down at him, "you decided that it was up to you to tell my _boyfriend_ , the _only_ man I trust _with my life_ , that he was taking _advantage_ of me," she cocked her head and raised her eyebrows, speaking the following part slowly as if she was talking to a child, "do you see your mistake there, Clark?"

He drew in a breath and then let it out slowly, setting his pizza down once more and looking up at her. "Chloe, I'm sorry if what I said upset Oliver. And you. That wasn't my intention," he said quietly. "I'm just worried about you. You've been through so much already..."

"Oh, I have," she agreed, nodding and placing her hands over the desk on either side of herself, "but I don't think you see the mistake I'm talking about, so I'll explain to you." She said calmly and smiled.

His eyebrows furrowed at that, and at the smile on her face. It was eerily serene. "Okay..."

"Okay," she smiled a little more and pushed herself up, she liked to move while she spoke, she felt like the words rolled out more easily, "well, you see, Clark, for a long time, I didn't know if I should blame you for not coming to help me, I mean, I did, after all, tell you to leave me alone and you were just abiding by what I told you was my wish. I can't exactly fault you for that, right?" She told him, clasping her hands behind herself as she walked.

"But then, I gave it some more though and come to think of it, I told Oliver the same thing I told you. Oliver, a man who I had spoken with a total of about... five or six times before Lex started blackmailing me, I had an appointment with him and then I just dropped off of the face of the Earth and you know what, Clark?" She spoke, her voice still calm and neutral, like she was telling him about something mundane that happened at the grocery store, "Oliver got worried. He realized I was gone within a couple of days, before _you_ ever did and he went looking for me." She paused and shook her head a little, smiling, "isn't that funny? Some guy I barely know is worried about me and my supposed best friend isn't even raising an eyebrow."

Clark swallowed hard and shook his head. "Chloe, it wasn't like that." He took a deep breath. "It wasn't. Look, Lex hurt Lana, too. I was trying to help her. And you seemed like you were _fine_ , Chloe. You seemed happy with Lex. And I felt betrayed. Like you turned your back on me. I didn't know what was really going on."

"Oh, but I wasn't _fine_ , Clark." She said sharply, then regained her composure and went on, "now I'm curious, though." She said quietly, walking over to his side and giving herself a moment to prepare for what she was about to say, then looking down at him, "because last I heard, and correct me if I'm wrong, but when Lex had Lana, he didn't touch her against her will, she was actually willingly sleeping with Lex and she was willingly in a relationship with him and _you_ , you were standing outside that mansion pretty much 24/7, watching Lana and making sure she was okay, right?"

"That's not fair," he said softly. "Lex was manipulating her the entire time. He was lying to her constantly. He made her think she was pregnant and that she miscarried and she wasn't pregnant at all!"

"I know the story, Clark and believe me, I'm sincerely glad that whenever Lana had sex with that monster, it was willingly." She said, all pretense gone from her voice for a short time.

"But it does make me wonder," she added, this time, her voice back to falsely sweet, " _why_ didn't I deserve the same kind of concern from you? _Why_ weren't you at least keeping an ear out to make sure Lex wasn't hurting me when I was, after all, nothing but loyal to you for almost a decade of my life. I was your _best friend_ , Clark, I have protected you more than anyone, with the exception of your parents, and yet, you couldn't be bothered to use your hearing to check on me. You didn't even have to leave your home to do it, I'm sure you would have been able to hear me screaming and crying at least one of the times while he raped me, or while he tortured me in his torture room that he made _especially_ for me." By the time she finished, her expression was completely blank.

He shut his eyes, guilt sweeping over him. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I don't know what else to say, Chloe. I screwed up. I let you down. I know that." When he opened his eyes again, they were watery. "I'm so sorry."

"You _should_ be sorry," she said, her voice tight as she tried to control her emotions, "but saying you are sorry and meaning it are two different things, Clark, _if_ you actually mean it, the first thing you will do is apologize to Oliver and you will _stop_ disrespecting the _one_ person who never left my side when you turned your back on me!" She said loudly, her eyes tearing up, "and then you will leave him alone because you have absolutely _no_ right to be anything other than be completely respectful toward him because Oliver Queen did what you would _never_ have done and if it was up to you, I would _still_ be living that nightmare. I would _still_ be living with Lex using me both for sex and to take out whatever frustrations he might have that day." Her voice shook and lowered toward the end of that sentence.

"You may think you are better than us, better because you would never kill someone," she murmured, leaning down toward him and holding his gaze even as her vision got blurry, "but you will never be half the man Oliver is, and you will never be the kind of _hero_ he is, because you are only willing to do what you are comfortable with and what is in _your_ best interest."

A tear trickled down his cheek as his chest tightened with her words, but he didn't protest them, even if he wanted to protest the last part. He was silent for a long time, just holding her gaze. "I'll apologize to Oliver," he said finally, his voice soft, almost inaudible. "And I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make up for my actions." He swallowed hard. "I really am sorry, Chloe."

"There is no making up for what happened," she told him in a whisper, "there is no changing your actions or lack of them," she said tightly, "but you can change you attitude and maybe, one day, the rest of us will be able to look at you again with something that resembles respect." She stared at him for a moment longer then pulled back and stood up straight, "for now, I have nothing else to say to you." Chloe said tightly and crossed her arms over her chest as she stared down at him.

Clark gazed at her for a moment longer. "I'll be around," he said quietly standing up as he tucked his hands in his pockets and headed for the door.

Chloe watched him as he left her office, her jaw tight as she did her best to stop herself from breaking down while he could still hear her. She walked over to her desk and wiped her tears before picking up her phone and texting Oliver, asking him to come by Isis when he had time, she didn't want to worry him, but she really wanted him there.

* * *

Oliver was surprised to get the text from Chloe asking him to stop by Isis. But he wrapped up the meeting he had with a couple of board members and told his personal assistant he wouldn't be back until the next day. His gut told him something was up, because Chloe rarely asked him to come by during the day. And when he spotted her at her desk, hunched over it, and he saw how red her eyes were, he knew he'd been right. His stomach tightened as he stepped inside and quietly shut the door behind him. "Chloe?"

She blinked and looked up at him, her head was hurting from all the crying she had done in the past half hour or so, she sighed deeply and brushed her hands over her face, relieved to see him, "hi," she whispered.

"What happened?" he whispered, moving over to her desk.

Chloe stood up and took his hand, directing him toward the small couch instead and sitting down.

He sat down beside her, his expression worried. "Are you all right?"

With a deep breath, she nodded a little and cleared her throat, "I asked Clark to come by."

His eyes widened a little at that. "Chloe--"

"I've had enough, Ollie," she said quietly, linking her fingers with his and looking down at their hands before looking up at him, "enough of him judging and disrespecting you and he didn't do anything, he just apologized and listened, but.." her eyes started tearing up a little again, "it wasn't easy to say everything."

Oliver drew in a breath and slid his other arm around her. "I'm sure it wasn't," he whispered.

She shifted closer and curled up against his side instantly, "I just wanted to see you."

He kissed her temple, wrapping his other arm around her, as well. "Well, you've got me the rest of the day if you want," he told her. "I cleared my schedule."

"Thank you," she murmured, wrapping her arms around him and her fingers around his shirt, closing her eyes as she pulled her feet up on the couch and turned more into his embrace. Back before this whole thing happened, she would never have called him up like that because she needed him, or anyone for that matter, no matter how much she did, but now, she was glad she had.

"No thanks necessary," he told her as she curled against him. "I'd rather spend the day with you any day of the week." He rubbed her back.

She sniffed quietly and nodded, "I told him he had to apologize to you."

Oliver's arms tightened around her a little more. "I don't care if he does or not," he whispered.

"I know," she told him quietly then lifted her head and brushed her nose against his jaw, "but I do."

He gazed down at her, reaching up to tuck some hair behind her ear. Then he dipped his head and gently kissed the corner of her mouth.

She turned her head and kissed him softly full on the lips, tightening her arms around him.

After a moment, he leaned his forehead against hers, his thumb moving gently over her cheek. "Bart went to check," he said softly. "He's still there."

"Oh," she smiled a little and tightened her arms around him, "thank you for checking."

"Not a problem," he assured her.

Chloe looked at him for a long moment then took a deep breath, "you can kiss me, whenever you want to." She'd been meaning to tell him that for a couple of days now, she was definitely okay with that. Every time he wanted to kiss her, he'd just kiss her cheek or the corner of her mouth and she wanted him to be able to really kiss her.

Oliver paused at that, watching her intently. "Okay," he agreed, nodding a little. "And if it ever makes you uncomfortable, all you have to do is tell me. I won't take offense."

"I will," she promised quietly, lifting one of her hands to touch his cheek, "but it won't."

He smiled at that, leaning into her touch and then dipping his head to kiss her softly.

She smiled softly against his lips and returned the kiss without hesitation, her heart skipping a beat as she hugged him to her.

He slid one hand up and into her hair. "You look beautiful today," he murmured. "But you always do."

Chloe leaned into his touch and smiled softly, then shook her head, "I bet my face is all red..." she said quietly.

"Nope." He kissed the tip of her nose, smiling sweetly.

She grinned softly and shook her head a little, "thanks for coming, Ollie." She said, a little more serious as she looked up at him.

His expression softened at her words. "I'll always come for you. No matter what," he whispered. "Always."

With a deep breath, she nodded, "I know," she said sincerely, "I'm really lucky to have you."

"I think I'm the lucky one, actually," he told her quietly.

"How so?" She asked, cocking her head.

Oliver smiled at her faintly. "Any guy who's with you and doesn't think he's lucky is an idiot," he informed her.

Chloe let out a breath and smiled a little, shaking her head, "you're the first one who thinks that way."

He grinned. "So I'm the only guy you've dated who isn't an idiot," he teased.

Raising her eyebrows a little she nodded, "yeah, but I already knew that."

Oliver chuckled softly. "Well, I'm glad you don't think I'm an idiot."

"Of course not," she kissed his cheek and smiled softly up at him, "which is why I'm keeping you."

"And here I just thought it was because of my winning personality and stunning good looks," he teased.

"Absolutely not," she teased back, quietly as she smiled up at him.

He grinned at her. "What do you say we get out of here?" he suggested.

Pursing her lips together, Chloe nodded a little, "that sounds nice."

He cupped her face in his hands again and kissed her once more. "We could go for a walk. The park maybe?"

She couldn't help but smile when he kissed her and nodded a little, taking a deep breath, "okay." She agreed quietly.

Oliver gave her a reassuring smile, picking her up when he stood up.

Her eyes widened a little and she quickly wrapped her arms around his neck, "I can walk," she told him, smiling a little as she raised her eyebrows.

"Walking is overrated," he teased, winking at her.

Chloe considered for a moment then relaxed in his arms, "yeah but it kind of defeats the purpose of a walk in the park if I'm not actually walking."

 

He cocked his head to the side. "This is true. I guess I'll let you walk when we get downstairs," he responded with a grin.

Pursing her lips together, she pretended to consider him for a moment then nodded and laid her head on his shoulder, "I guess that's a compromise."

Oliver smiled at her again and carried her out of her office and toward the elevator. "Maybe after the park we can get some dinner," he suggested.

She reached up and ran her fingers over his hair, now that the press had kind of forgotten about her, it made it easier to be in public, but she had been avoiding it anyway, until a few days ago and now that she had started getting out of the apartment, she felt like she'd be okay doing more of it, "okay, where?"

"Wherever you want." He smiled. "We could always hop on the jet and get _actual_ authentic Italian food."

Chloe grinned a little and shook her head as she lifted it from his shoulder, "as amazing as it was last time we were there, I think the jetlag would be really bad if we went there just for dinner."

"Well, we could stay for a few days." He grinned back at her. "Or we could head to Mexico for Bart's favorite meal."

She smirked and shook her head, "I think we need to stay a little more local today," she grew serious, "Lois was sick again this morning."

He frowned at that. "Did Emil come by?"

"He was going to," she nodded, "I haven't heard back from either one of them, I guess I should call her."

"You wanna to head home and check on her?" he asked softly.

"I think so," she said quietly, "if she's okay, we can go to the park and everything but I just realized she didn't call at all."

"All right," Oliver agreed, kissing her forehead and setting her on her feet when the elevator doors slid open. "Let's go check on Lois."

She slid her hand into his and nodded, "thanks, Ollie." She said again.

He laced his fingers through hers. "You're welcome."


	5. Road to Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)

Title: Road to Redemption  
Authors: [](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/profile)[**chloeas**](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**dl_greenarrow**](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: R  
Author's Note: This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)  
Note 2: Just to clarify something--the title is not related to Chloe, even though this very Chloe-centric. She's done nothing she needs to be redeemed for. So.  
Disclaimer: They are SO not ours. But we'd like them to be.

 

Oliver reached out and knocked lightly on Lois' apartment door, glancing sideways at Chloe and raising his eyebrows as they waited. A moment later the door opened and Lois Lane stared at them for a moment, her face paler than usual.

"Lois?" he asked with a slight frown.

She met Chloe's eyes for a brief moment and then stepped aside to let them in.

"Lois, what's wrong?" Chloe asked the second she walked into the apartment.

Oliver followed her inside and shut the door behind him, frowning as he looked between the two of them.

"This goes _no_ further until I know one way or the other," she informed them, folding her arms across her chest.

"Okay," Chloe said with a frown, "what doesn't?"

She shifted uncomfortably. "That Emil guy came over earlier." She looked at her cousin. "He asked if there was any possibility I could be _pregnant_."

Oliver's eyes widened a little.

Chloe's eyes widened too and she stepped closer to Lois, "have you taken the test?"

Lois shook her head. "It's not like I keep them on hand." She paused. "Although apparently I should."

"Okay," Chloe took a deep breath and nodded, stepping forward and placing her hands on her cousin's arms, "we'll get you some and we'll know for sure," she said quietly, holding Lois' gaze "and no matter what the results are, it's gonna be fine."

She gave her cousin a dubious look. "You're kidding me right? How could me being pregnant be fine, Chloe?"

"Because you're not going through it alone, you have me, you have Ollie and Arthur loves you, you're going to be okay."

Lois drew in a breath and let it out slowly, willing her stomach not to revolt. She turned her head to look at Oliver. "Will you go the store and get me a couple pregnancy tests?"

He managed a small, worried smile, and nodded. "Sure thing, Lois," he said quietly, glancing at Chloe.

"Thank you," Chloe told Ollie quietly then turned to Lois again, "I'll stay here with you."

She nodded slightly, rubbing her hands over her face and moving to sit down on the sofa.

"I'll be back," Oliver said softly, heading for the door.

Chloe watched as Oliver walked out then moved to sit down next to Lois, silently reaching out and taking her hand.

Lois drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "This is _crazy_."

"It's gonna be okay, Lo." She told her cousin quietly.

"We've been _careful_. Extra careful. I'm on the pill, and we always use condoms. It would figure I would land a superhero who can not only swim at the speed of light, but whose swimmers are supersperm!"

Chloe couldn't help but find that kind of amusing, but she didn't say anything, she knew Lois probably would just freak out more, "I assume you haven't told him that it's a possibility yet?"

"You assume correctly." She blew out a breath, rubbing her face again.

"I think that if it turns out you are, he will handle it really well and I will be here no matter what you decide to do about it." She said quietly, raising a hand to Lois' back and rubbing it gently.

"This is terrifying," she whispered, closing her eyes.

"I can imagine," Chloe said quietly.

Lois paused for a moment, then turned her head to look at her. "Crap. I'm sorry."

Chloe frowned and shook her head a little, "it's okay, I didn't mean it like that. This is a completely different situation."

"I know it is." She blew out a breath, rubbing her hands over her face again and then rising to her feet.

Pursing her lips together, Chloe looked up at Lois, "even if you are, Lo, there are ways around it," she said quietly.

Lois paused and looked at her for a moment, considering her words. "Yeah. Am I over-reacting? I'm over-reacting."

"You're not," she told her cousin as she stood up, "it's scary, but like I said, you're not alone in this."

She stepped closer and hugged Chloe wordlessly, closing her eyes.

Chloe hugged Lois back and rubbed her back soothingly, "it's okay, Lo." She whispered quietly.

Lois relaxed a little, nodding. "I know. Like you said, I've got you and AC and Ollie."

"You do," she said quietly, "you don't have to go through anything by yourself."

"I guess we're both lucky in that aspect."

"We are," Chloe agreed softly, pressing a kiss to Lois' temple, "we have amazing guys in our lives and we have each other, we'll be okay."

Lois drew in a breath and pulled away to look at her, nodding a little. "Are you hungry? I'm starving."

"Yeah," Chloe smiled softly, "we have leftover lasagna that Ollie made upstairs, do you want me to go grab it? Or we can just eat there."

"He makes the best lasagna. Hold onto him for his cooking skills," she teased. "Let's just head up there."

Grinning softly, Chloe shook her head, "I guess I can, someone will need to feed you, right?"

"Especially if I _am_ eating for two."

Raising her eyebrows at that, Chloe nodded a little then took her cousin's hand and tugged on it, pulling her toward the door, "c'mon, you will need lots of liquid too so you can take the test."

Lois groaned a little and followed her lead.

It was going to be a long day.

And if Ollie didn't get back soon, she was going to have to kill him.

* * *

Oliver eyed the shelves of pregnancy tests with uncertainty. How was he supposed to know which one was really the most accurate? He scratched the back of his neck, glanced down at the basket in his hands that already had a carton of ice cream--because he had a feeling both Chloe and Lois were going to need it soon--and a bag of carrots for himself. Sighing softly, he plucked one of each kind of test off the shelf with a shrug and stuck them in his basket, too, then headed down the aisle to grab a bottle of aspirin.

Ever since his talk with Chloe, Clark had been wondering around aimlessly. He had felt guilty before, and he had felt responsible for a lot of bad things that had happened; like Alicia's and his dad's deaths, but this was different. It hadn't been a single event that he had failed to help someone in, it had been a lot of them, for months Chloe had been tortured by Lex and he could have put a stop to it, but he hadn't and if he had ever felt like a failure before, it didn't compare to how much he felt like one now.

As much as he hated to admit, he couldn't help but wonder if she had been right about Oliver being a better person and a better hero than he was, even if Clark didn't agree with the other man's methods and actions and most importantly, how he had chosen to help Chloe out of her situation, he still had done _something_ and Chloe had been right when she said that Clark himself would never have done what Oliver had. He had thought that made him a better person than the other man for a long time, but Chloe clearly didn't feel the same way and she was the one he had failed.

He wasn't looking forward to apologizing to Oliver, but it was the least he could do. He had been to Queen Industries and the Clocktower but hadn't found him, so now he was making his way, at normal pace, to Chloe's penthouse. That was when he heard Oliver's voice asking about aspirins and stopped. That was closer than Chloe's apartment, he looked around for a moment and spotted a store only a few feet away, then, with a deep breath, he forced himself to make his way inside.

"Thanks," Oliver told the man who'd helped him locate what he'd been looking for. He slid the bottle of aspirin into the basket and started toward the checkout, pausing when he found Clark Kent standing right in front of him.

"Oliver," Clark said quietly, "I've been, hm, looking for you."

He wasn't surprised by that. At least not entirely, considering what Chloe had told him. "All right."

Clark lifted his hand to rub the back of his neck and looked down awkwardly "I was hoping we could--" he stopped mid-sentence, his hand stilling, his eyes widening as they fell on the items inside of Oliver's basket. Pregnancy tests. His stomach dropped and he raised his eyes to look back at the other man in shock.

Oliver didn't notice Clark looking down, just the sudden surprised expression on his face. "Hoping we could...?" he prompted.

 

"Are those..." he said, looking back down at the basket.

He followed the other man's gaze and sighed inaudibly. "Pregnancy tests? Yes."

"Oh," Clark paled and took a step back, "I should... let you go. We can talk later."

"They're not for Chloe," he told him, watching him intently.

Frowning, Clark blinked and relaxed a little at the information, looking back down at the basket then again at the other man, "who are they for?"

"Lois," Oliver informed him.

" _Lois_?" Clark frowned harder again, "I didn't realize she was seeing anyone."

"She and AC are together," he replied, raising his eyebrows.

Clark's eyes widened again and he looked at Oliver for a long moment then nodded, looking down, his head spinning even more than before.

Oliver gazed at him intently. "How's Lana?"

Blinking a couple of times, Clark looked at Oliver, "she's... okay."

"Good." Nodding a little, he started to move around Clark.

Clark took a deep breath and turned around to look in the direction Oliver was heading, "do you mind if I stop by your office sometime?"

He paused at that and turned to look at Clark once more. "I'll be there in the morning," he informed him.

Nodding, Clark slid his hands back into his pockets, "I'll come by then."

"All right. I'll see you in the morning then," he said, nodding back at him and heading to the checkout.

Clark looked at him for a moment then took a deep breath and headed out of the store without another word.

* * *

Oliver sat on the sofa, watching Chloe intently as she paced the floor. He wondered if she knew Lois had done the exact same thing when _she_ was taking her pregnancy tests. In some ways, the two of them were a lot alike, but in others, they were complete opposites. It dawned on him that he'd started thinking of them as sisters rather than cousins, and wondered if that was because they really saw each other the same way.

Chloe stopped pacing for a moment and sighed deeply, crossing her arms over her chest then looking at Oliver, "do you think she is?" She asked quietly.

"She has been sick the last few days," he said softly, watching her.

"Yeah, I know," she dropped her hands to her sides, "and she has been eating a lot."

"And the mood swings..."

"Right," Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, pursing her lips together and looking down at him, "I still really think Arthur should be here for this."

Oliver rose to his feet and reached out to touch her cheek. "If she is, she'll tell him."

"I know she will, I just think she would be less freaked out if he was here to help her through it," she said, leaning into his touch.

"Do you want me to try calling him?" he asked softly.

Chloe shook her head a little, "probably better not to until she says she wants to talk to him, I don't want to make it any worse."

Oliver nodded and slid his arms around her in a hug. "Then we wait."

Shifting closer, she wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his chest, keeping her eyes on the bathroom door.

A moment later the door opened and Lois stepped out, paler than before. "Guess who's having a baby?"

Chloe's eyes widened and she let go of Oliver before walking over to her cousin and hugging her tightly. She was pretty sure this was going to be the result, but it was one thing to think her cousin was going to have a baby and another to have her actually announce it.

Oliver watched them, his eyes slightly wider than usual and he rubbed the back of his neck.

Lois hugged Chloe back, swallowing hard. "Okay, the actual terror has officially kicked in."

"You need to call Arthur," Chloe told Lois as she pulled back slightly to look up at her cousin, "I think it might be easier for you if he's around."

"He's on a mission," she reminded her, exhaling slowly. "He'll be back tomorrow. I'll be all right."

"We can give Bart a call and have him here a lot sooner than that," Chloe pointed out, rubbing Lois' arms, "but if you want to wait, that's okay too."

"I don't want to distract him," Lois told her, offering her a small, tentative smile. "It can wait."

Oliver looked down at the floor for a moment, knowing he'd want to know that kind of news immediately, but understanding that Lois was trying to do what she felt was best.

Chloe nodded and smiled softly at her cousin, "okay, why don't you sit down and I'll call your doctor and make an appointment for you in a couple of days so you can have time to talk to him and have him come with you if you want to?"

At that, Oliver looked up. "I think under the circumstances, you might want to have Emil be the one to check you out," he said softly.

Lois looked over at him. "You mean in case our baby has gills?"

"Pretty sure every baby has gills," Chloe pointed out, raising her eyebrows a little, "but I guess you're right," she told Oliver, "I'm not sure how the metahuman genes pass down to the next generation."

"I'm not sure anyone knows, but at least Emil already knows what he needs to know about the team."

Lois nodded a little, glancing at Chloe. "All right."

Chloe nodded and looked up at her cousin, "do you wanna see him right now or wait?"

"I want to wait for AC."

"Okay," Chloe agreed, taking a deep breath and smiling a little, glad that her cousin had decided to wait, if it was with her, she would have wanted Ollie to be there right away, but they could keep Lois company until Arthur got back in town.

"Everything's going to be okay," Oliver told them both, his voice quiet.

Chloe smiled a little at Oliver, grateful that he was there with them, he made it easier for her to pull it together for her cousin, "yeah, it will be," she agreed.

Lois rolled her eyes at him. "Thanks, Sunshine," she said wryly.

Smiling a little more, Chloe shook her head, "do you need anything?" She asked Lois.

"A nap. I'm exhausted," she admitted, raking a hand through her hair.

"Okay," Chloe nodded a little and glanced at Oliver then back at her cousin, "do you wanna sleep downstairs or in here?"

"I'm way too tired for stairs," Lois informed her, glancing toward her cousin's bedroom. "Mind if I...?"

"Of course not," Chloe assured her, patting her back gently, "go ahead, and call me if you need anything."

Lois nodded a little and disappeared down the hall.

Pursing her lips, Chloe watched her go then turned to Ollie, her eyes widening a little more now that Lois was gone, but she didn't open her mouth until she heard the bedroom door closing, "what should we do?"

He reached out and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Don't think there's a lot we can do," he said softly. "Except be here if she needs us."

Nodding, she looked up at him and took a deep breath before letting it out slowly, "yeah, we can do that..." she paused and smiled a little, "and replace all her coffee with decaf."

Oliver simply chuckled.


	6. Road to Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)

Title: Road to Redemption  
Authors: [](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/profile)[**chloeas**](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**dl_greenarrow**](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: R  
Author's Note: This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)  
Note 2: Just to clarify something--the title is not related to Chloe, even though this very Chloe-centric. She's done nothing she needs to be redeemed for. So.  
Disclaimer: They are SO not ours. But we'd like them to be.

The following morning, Clark finished his chores before the sun was even up, then made his way to Metropolis. He drove, mostly because this way, when he got to the city, there was a possibility that Oliver would already be in his office. But he made it to Metropolis just after seven thirty, so he knew it was too early. He took his time finding a parking spot, which wasn't hard, then walked the streets until about nine, when he finally made his way up to Queen Industries' top floor, spoke with Oliver's assistant and then made his way to the other man's office once he was told he could go in.

Clark knocked anyway before opening the door and stepping inside, today, on top of the guilt he already felt because of Chloe, he was also going to have to try his hardest not to ask about the results for Lois' pregnancy test.

Oliver rose to his feet as the door opened, a little surprised to see Clark. He'd half expected that the other man wouldn't really show up. He should have known that his curiosity about Lois' condition, at the very least, would assure his presence.

With a deep breath, he stepped further into the room then closed the door, buying himself sometime before turning to look at Oliver, "your assistant told me I could come in."

"I wasn't sure you'd come," Oliver admitted.

Clark nodded and looked down then at Oliver, "this is important to Chloe."

He was silent for a moment, nodding a little, then motioning toward the sofa. "Want something to drink?"

Clark walked to the sofa and sat down, "no, thank you."

Oliver watched him, then moved over to sit down on the opposite end of the sofa from him.

He was silent for a moment then took a deep breath, "I'm sorry about what I said." Clark said finally, "about you taking advantage of her."

He was quiet for a moment. "No, you're not. You meant it and we both know it. But the fact that you showed up and made the effort speaks for itself."

Clark's jaw tensed a little and he looked down at his lap, "I know I should have done more to help her and it kills me that I didn't and that she had to go through--" he paused, shaking his head, "everything."

Oliver looked down, as well. "I know." His voice was almost inaudible.

"I just want to help her." Clark added quietly.

He rubbed his hands over his face for a moment. "You're not the only one who has guilt, Clark."

Clark glanced at Oliver, "you're the one who has been helping her, Oliver. You never turned your back on her."

"Yeah. Well, I should have done it a lot sooner." He exhaled slowly.

"At least you did something," even if Clark didn't agree with what he had done, "it should have been me."

He glanced at Clark, considering that for a moment. "Maybe."

With a deep sigh, Clark looked down again, "thank you," he said quietly, "for taking care of her." And that much, he actually meant.

"I love her," Oliver said, looking down again, too.

Clark stopped and looked over at Oliver.

He glanced at Clark once more, meeting the other man's eyes.

"Is that why you helped her?" He asked, frowning.

"No. I helped her because she's my friend. And she's part of my team."

Clark raised his eyebrows, "she what?"

He paused. "Before all the stuff happened with Lex, Chloe called me because she'd been following the articles written about the work the League was doing. She wanted to help."

Clark stared at Oliver for a moment then took a deep breath, looking away again, "she never told me that."

"She didn't think you'd be very happy about it," Oliver told him.

"I wouldn't have been." Clark agreed.

"Which is why she didn't tell you. She wanted to help, Clark. And she didn't want to see your disapproval."

With a deep breath, Clark shook his head and rubbed his hands over his face.

Oliver watched him for a moment. "Sure you don't want something to drink?"

"Yeah." He rubbed his hands over his jeans and sat up, "I should go soon."

He sat up, as well. "Right," he said quietly.

Clark turned to look at Oliver, "if there is anything I can do to help."

"Unless you can somehow turn back time?" He shook his head a little. "I don't think so."

He swallowed hard and nodded, then stood up, "if you think of anything, I know you don't like me, but I will do anything Chloe needs."

Oliver rose to his feet, as well, gazing at Clark. "Well, that makes two of us."

Clark nodded, looking at Oliver for a moment, "I should go."

"You're wondering about Lois."

At that, he stopped and looked up at Oliver again, his jaw tensing once more.

He raised an eyebrow at the tense expression on Clark's face.

"Is she?" He asked finally.

"AC doesn't know yet. And if she finds out I told you, she'll kill me. So you are completely unaware," Oliver informed him.

Clark stilled then nodded, looking down, "I won't say anything."

"I appreciate it." He gazed at Clark.

With a deep breath, he nodded a little at Oliver as a goodbye then turned around and headed for the door.

Oliver watched him go, then slowly moved over to sit down behind his desk once more. He stared blankly at his computer screen, his thoughts far from work.

* * *

Chloe left the apartment early that morning, not to go to Isis, but to go shopping. Lois had ended up spending the night in her bed and Chloe stayed with her while Ollie took the couch, Chloe told him to just go back to the Clocktower so he could at least be comfortable, but he had insisted on staying, she knew he'd been as worried about Lois as she was.

It wasn't even ten by the time she got back and she walked back to the bedroom as quietly as possible with all the bags she was carrying, "Lo?" She said quietly when she realized her cousin's eyes were open.

Lois turned her head to look at her cousin and exhaled slowly. "Hey. You were up early."

"I was hoping to get back before you woke up," Chloe admitted, setting the bags on the bed, "how are you feeling?"

"A little nauseous," she admitted with a slight shrug, raising her eyebrows at the multiple bags Chloe had set down. "What's all that?"

"Books, mostly," she sat down next to Lois, "but first, do you want something to eat? Crackers are supposed to help settle your stomach, I have some..." she told Lois, already digging through the bags without waiting for an answer.

Lois blinked and looked up at her. "Anything's better than throwing up."

Chloe pulled out a box of crackers and handed it to Lois, nodding, "I agree."

She reached out and took the box. "Thanks, Chlo," she said, her voice soft. She opened the box and pulled out a cracker, munching on it.

Nodding, she smiled reassuringly at Lois, "hopefully that will help."

"So what else?" She nodded toward the bags once more.

"Okay," Chloe took a deep breath and pulled one of the bags upside down on the bed, "I picked up pretty much all of the pregnancy and baby books I could find and I figured some of them will be more helpful than others but the girl who was helping me," she paused, digging through the pile for a moment and pulling out a particular book, "said this is a really good one."

"What To Expect When You're Expecting," Lois read aloud, a smirk tugging at her mouth. "Cute title."

Smirking too, Chloe nodded, handing Lois the book, "seems pretty straight forward to me."

She took it from her, eying the other stack of books Chloe had piled onto the bed. "That's a lot of books."

"We will need a lot of knowledge," Chloe said with a shrug and smiled at her cousin.

Lois drew in a breath and let it out slowly, smiling a little when she caught sight of one of the other book titles. "What To Expect When Your Wife is Expecting." She smirked again. "AC will just _love_ that one."

"Hey his super swimmers got you knocked up, I fully expect to see a ring on your finger in the next twenty-four hours."

She made a face at Chloe. "Like I want him to marry me just because I'm pregnant?"

"I'm joking, Lo," she told her cousin, leaning back against the pillows, "have you figured out how you're going to tell him yet?"

Lois let out a breath, looking down at the blankets and shaking her head a little. "Not a clue."

Chloe leaned over and pressed a kiss to Lois' temple, "it's gonna be fine, Lo, I think he'll be excited."

"Maybe," she said softly, leaning her head on Chloe's shoulder.

"Almost sure," Chloe said, wrapping her arm around Lois' shoulders and hugging her to her side, "I know I'm a proud aunt."

Lois smiled at that. "So even if AC decides he's not interested in having a family, I've got you and we'll raise this baby together?"

"Exactly," Chloe told her, hugging her to her side, "and it will be just as screwed up as the rest of us, it will be great."

She closed her eyes. "Good," she murmured, yawning.

Chloe raised her eyebrows a little, the amount that Lois was sleeping was kind of concerning, she couldn't wait for AC to be back so they would go see Emil and make sure everything was okay, "need a nap?"

"I think so. This kid's sucking all the energy out of me," she grumbled.

"You need to eat more," Chloe tried, hugging Lois a little.

"I will, later. When I wake up." She yawned again. "Make Ollie fix me something for lunch," she said, half-joking.

"I will," Chloe assured her, even if Ollie didn't get back to make lunch, she'd just order Lois something that'd be good for her. "C'mon, lay down and I'll get these books out of the way."

"Stay with me?" she asked, burrowing down under the blankets and closing her eyes.

Pursing her lips, she nodded, "of course," she picked up the books and placed them in the armchair in the corner of the room, picking one up then sliding under the covers next to Lois.

Lois yawned once more and fell asleep within moments.

* * *

Ollie was tired as he made his way back to Chloe and Lois's apartment building later that evening. It had been a long day filled with meetings and conference calls, and his heart just wasn't in those kinds of dealings lately. In fact, the only things his heart was really in at all were patrolling and the blond he was on his way to see. He smiled at Joseph as the man stood outside the building.

"Hey. How are you?" Oliver greeted.

Joseph smiled at Oliver and nodded, "going well, only have fifteen more minutes to go."

"How's Jasmine doing?" he asked, shaking the man's hand.

"Doing well, really well," Joseph said proudly, "she's staying with her grandma while I'm at work."

Oliver smiled at that. "Glad to hear it," he said sincerely. "Still planning that Disneyworld trip?"

"Next month," he said with a nod, "shouldn't be as warm then."

"Well, I'm sure you'll have a great time," Oliver told him, patting his arm and heading inside.

"Goodnight, Mr. Queen." Joseph called politely.

"Goodnight, Joseph. And call me Ollie," he called back with an amused smile.

* * *

Chloe looked up from the book she was reading when she heard the door open and smiled a little when she saw Oliver, "hey." She greeted quietly.

Oliver felt himself relaxing even as he saw her sitting on the sofa. "Hey," he said softly, stepping inside, shutting the door and slipping off his shoes.

"AC is here," she told him, smiling softly, "he and Lois are talking in the bedroom."

He glanced toward the hallway, then back at her, nodding a little as he moved to sit down beside her. "Whatcha reading?" he asked curiously, kissing her cheek.

"What to expect when you're expecting," she told him, wrinkling her nose, "I figured I better know what is good and what isn't for her because chances are, she won't pay much attention."

Oliver couldn't help but grin at that. "Somehow I have a feeling we're _all_ about to get a crash course in bringing up baby," he teased, draping his arm around her shoulders.

She leaned into him and smiled a little, nodding, "I think you're right." She paused, "she's pretty freaked out."

"I'm not surprised," he said softly. "I don't think this was exactly in her immediate plans."

"Very far from it, I don't think Lois ever really seriously considered something like having kids," she pursed her lips together, "but AC is a nice guy and she loves him, and I think it will take her some time, but she'll be okay with it."

Oliver watched her for a moment, nodding slightly. "He loves her, too. They'll be okay."

"I know he does," she told him, smiling softly, "and between him and the two of us, I think that's a pretty good support system."

He smiled back at her, then rested his head against hers for a moment. "I think it is, too."

Chloe smiled softly and leaned in, kissing him, "thanks for helping her too."

Oliver brushed his nose against hers and kissed her back, one hand sliding up her cheek and into her hair.

She put the book aside and wrapped her arm around him as she shifted closer.

"Love you," he whispered.

"Love you too," she said quietly, brushing her nose against his, "how was your day?"

"Long," he admitted. "And very, very boring."

She made a face and hugged him a little closer, "I'm sorry."

Oliver smiled a little. "It's okay. It's over now and I'm back where I wanted to be."

"You're where I want you to be too," she told him, smiling softly.

"Oh good." He grinned at her, kissing her again.

Chloe grinned softly back at him before returning the kiss and hugging him close, it was really nice to have him initiate their kisses, it made her feel more like he _wanted_ to kiss her.

"So I was thinking," he told her, tugging her a little closer to him. "There's a new jazz club downtown. Kind of exclusive." He pulled away enough to look at her, lacing his fingers through hers. "Maybe we could go there tomorrow night."

She raised her eyebrows, a little surprised, "really? I didn't know you were into jazz..."

He smiled a little, brushing his nose against hers. "Are you?"

"It's nice to listen to, but I don't know much about it," she admitted, rubbing a hand against his side.

"I don't know much about it either. I just like it," he told her, kissing her softly.

"We can go," she told him quietly after returning the kiss.

"If you want to. If not, that's okay too."

"We can," she assured him then smiled a little, "as long as Lois doesn't need me."

Oliver nodded, watching her and lifting a hand to cup her cheek.

Chloe leaned into his touch and smiled a little, watching him closely for a moment then frowning slightly, "what else is going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, you seem preoccupied." She said quietly.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, falling silent for a moment, then meeting her eyes. "Clark came to see me."

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded slowly, "oh." She paused, "how did it go?"

"He apologized," he said softly.

"Because I asked him to," she said quietly, nodding, "even if he doesn't mean it, I'm glad he did."

Oliver nodded, as well, gazing at her intently. "Clark knows he screwed up."

Chloe pursed her lips together and shrugged, "I don't think I can ask for much else from him right now."

He kissed her forehead softly. "I know," he whispered.

"I don't need anything else," she added quietly, closing her eyes.

"Are you sure about that?" he murmured.

"From him?" She said, opening her eyes then nodded, "yeah."

Oliver slid his arms around her, pulling her a little closer.

She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his chest, sighing deeply.

He stroked a hand down her back gently, then back up again.

After a long moment of silence, she opened her eyes again and looked up at him, "what made you think of that jazz club?"

He smiled a bit at that. "I don't know," he admitted. "It just seemed like something you might like."

"I've never been to a jazz club before," she admitted then shrugged a little, smiling softly, "but it sounds nice."

Oliver nodded a little. "You liked Phantom, right?" His voice was soft.

"I loved it," she told him, smiling and nodding, "so I know to trust your suggestions."

"We should try the ballet sometime too," he said softly.

"Ballet doesn't sound like your style at all, but I assume you've been?" She asked, cocking her head a little, she knew he was doing this to get her out of the apartment, but she wasn't minding, she enjoyed spending time with him and she didn't mind going places with him, in fact, she liked knowing he had no problem with being seen with her.

He smiled. "I've been. Not a lot, but a couple times. When I was younger, mostly." He searched her eyes.

"How did you like it?" She asked quietly.

"It was...different," he admitted.

Chloe raised her eyebrows, "different doesn't usually equal good, did you like it better than a musical?"

He grinned. "Not really. But that doesn't mean you won't."

"I'm willing to give it a try," she told him, smiling softly, "besides, it would be funny if you fell asleep."

Oliver chuckled at that. "And snored at inappropriate times?"

"Hopefully?" She said brightly.

He tickled her lightly in the ribs. "Trying to get me into trouble," he teased.

Chloe squirmed and laughed softly, "I would never do that."

He raised his eyebrows. "Uh huh."

She looked up at him innocently and raised her eyebrows, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Oliver leaned in and kissed her softly. "Sure you don't," he murmured against her mouth.

Without thinking about it, she acted on impulse and kissed him more firmly, lifting a hand to cup his cheek.

He kissed her back without hesitation, resting a hand lightly against her hip.

Sitting up, Chloe lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck as she pulled him closer.

He groaned softly, shifting beneath her and dropping his mouth to press a kiss against her jaw, closing his eyes.

Chloe shivered softly at the feeling of his lips against her neck, she opened her eyes, expecting to feel herself starting to freak out, but when it didn't come, she let out a breath and closed her eyes again, pulling him closer.

"Is this okay?" he whispered against her skin, pressing another tender kiss to her neck.

She took a deep breath and smiled a little then nodded, shivering once more then turning to kiss his jaw, "yeah," she told him quietly.

Oliver rubbed his nose lightly over hers, kissing her chin, and then her cheek, sliding a hand into her hair as he pressed a trail of tender kisses to her ear.

Chloe closed her eyes again and relaxed, not a single bad memory or feeling coming to her, and that only made her relax more and she knew that she probably couldn't do this to anyone else, but Oliver, she trusted more than a hundred percent and she loved him and knew he felt the same way.

"I love you," he murmured against her ear, closing his eyes.

She couldn't help but smile at his words, she turned her head and brushed her nose against his cheek before pressing a kiss to it, "I love you."

He slid his hand up and down her spine gently, turning his head to capture her lips with his once more.

Her back arched just slightly at his touch and she returned the kiss, wrapping her arms around him tightly

Oliver nibbled lightly on her bottom lip, resting his hands on her hips lightly as she arched against him. He forced himself to take a deep breath as he pulled back a little.

Chloe paused when he pulled back and looked up at him, "sorry," she said quietly, "I know it's not easy on you."

He smiled a bit at that. "It's okay, Chloe."

She leaned in and kissed him softly, "thank you for being so patient."

He brushed his thumb lightly over her cheek. "How could I not be?" he murmured.

Turning her head, she pressed her lips to his thumb, she knew not many guys would be comfortable with this situation, let alone with waiting like this, but she also knew she was incredibly lucky to have found the one who was.

 


	7. Road to Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)

Title: Road to Redemption  
Authors: [](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/profile)[**chloeas**](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**dl_greenarrow**](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: R  
Author's Note: This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)  
Note 2: Just to clarify something--the title is not related to Chloe, even though this very Chloe-centric. She's done nothing she needs to be redeemed for. So.  
Disclaimer: They are SO not ours. But we'd like them to be.

Oliver raked a hand through his still damp hair and made his way down the hallway toward the kitchen, yawning involuntarily. For whatever reason, he hadn't slept very well the night before, but he knew Chloe would be awake soon and he wanted to have breakfast ready when she was.

Seconds later, a strong wind hit the kitchen and Bart appeared, clutching a newspaper in his hands, his eyes wide.

He blinked a few times and raised his eyebrows. "Bart..."

"Is it true?" He asked, staring at Oliver.

"Is what true?" he asked uncertainly, pulling a frying pan out from the cabinet. "I'm making breakfast. Have a seat."

Bart held out the newspaper to Oliver, "is Chloe pregnant?"

" _What_?" Oliver turned to face him, his eyes wide. He looked down at the paper, staring at the headline. _**Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan-Luthor--Expecting?**_

Bart stared at Oliver, by his reaction, he would have guessed no, but considering the pictures of Oliver buying pregnancy tests and of Chloe buying baby books... "what's going on, man?"

He groaned softly, rubbing a hand over his face. "Lois is pregnant, Bart," he told the younger man, glancing over at him.

"Oh," Bart's eyes widened even more, he wasn't sure if that was better, but at least now things made more sense.

He sighed softly, staring at the newspaper for a long moment. "Well, this isn't good."

Bart winced and nodded, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck, "anything I can do to help?"

"I think I'm going to have to let my PR people handle this one, but I appreciate the offer."

He nodded and took a deep breath, "think Chloe is gonna freak out?"

"Freak out about what?" She asked as she made her way into the kitchen, a frown on her face.

"Brace yourself," Oliver warned softly. "We just made the news again."

Chloe raised her eyebrows and looked from Bart to Oliver, stepping closer and holding out her hand for the newspaper.

He hesitantly handed it over to her, sighing softly and turning back to the stove.

She took the paper from him, her eyebrows raising even more as she read the article, she shook her head, "this is ridiculous..." she said finally.

Bart shrugged a little, "at least people will know it's BS soon enough?"

"Or they'll assume that Lois and AC are just trying to cover for us," Oliver said with a sigh.

"Yeah but they can only believe that for so long, right?" Bart tried.

Chloe sighed softly and leaned back against the counter, glancing at Ollie, "I'll let Joseph know today will probably be a long day for him."

He rubbed a hand over his face. "Good idea," he told Chloe softly. He glanced at Bart. "I don't suppose you'd be up for playing bodyguard today, too?"

Bart shrugged a little and looked between the two of them, "yeah, man, if you need me to."

"I have to go into QI for a few hours," he told Bart.

"Alright, I can come with you." Bart said, nodding.

Chloe walked over to the table and fished her phone out of her purse before pressing the speed dial number for Joseph and heading into the living room.

Oliver shook his head a little. "I meant as extra security here," he told Bart, dropping his voice. "Besides, Lois has been pretty sick the last few days. May have to get her somewhere fast."

"Oh," Bart nodded, "yeah, whatever you guys need." He paused, "but are you sure you're gonna be okay going in there by yourself?"

"Been dealing with the publicity hounds my entire life," Oliver reminded him with a small smile. "I'll be fine."

Bart frowned a little but nodded, "yeah, okay."

He patted Bart's arm and broke several eggs into the frying pan to make scrambled eggs.

Chloe walked back into the kitchen a few moments later, "he's on his way, he was about to drop Jasmine off at her grandma's." She told them.

Oliver smiled softly at that. "She's doing great. I talked to him a little bit yesterday," he told her.

"I know," Chloe said, nodding and smiling a little too, then moving over to the coffee maker to start some coffee, "hopefully we won't need him longer than usual because of this."

"It'll be okay," Oliver told her, touching her shoulder lightly before returning to work on breakfast.

Bart watched the interact in silence for a moment, "so AC and Lois are having a kid?" He asked finally.

Chloe glanced at Oliver and nodded, smiling a little before looking at Bart over her shoulder, "yeah, they are."

Oliver glanced at Bart once more and smiled faintly, scraping some eggs onto two plates and setting the plates on the table.

"Thanks, man," Bart told him then started to eat.

Chloe looked over at Ollie, "are you not going to eat?"

"I need to head into the office," he admitted. "Early meeting." He pressed a kiss to her temple.

She closed her eyes for a moment and nodded, "okay," she said quietly, "I'll probably just work from here today."

Oliver tucked some hair behind her ear, kissing her cheek. "All right. Call me if you need anything. Or if Lois does."

"I will," she took his hand and hers and gave it a soft squeeze, "thanks for breakfast."

"You're welcome," he said softly, offering her a smile and nodding at Bart before he headed for the door.

* * *

Oliver sighed softly, sending off another email as he blinked tiredly. The day hadn't gone the way he'd planned. Every meeting he had had run over by at least forty minutes, he'd only had time to text Chloe once between the second and third one, and he'd missed lunch. He was tired, hungry and annoyed and he groaned when he heard a knock on his office door. "Come in!"

Emil opened the door and adjusted his glasses, "Oliver? Is this a bad time?"

He smiled a little, relaxing back in his desk chair once more. "No, not for a friend. Come on in. Is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure," Emil admitted, walking up to the desk as he reached inside his pocket.

His smile disappeared and he looked up worriedly. "Is it Chloe? Is she all right?"

"Chloe is okay," He walked up to Oliver's side of the desk, "but I need you to come with me."

"What's going on, Emil?" he asked, rising to his feet.

"We shouldn't discuss this here," he told Oliver.

Now he was worried. He took a step toward the doctor, shaking his head a little. "All right. Lead the way."

Emil stepped aside, letting Oliver walk in front of him and the second Oliver's back was to him, he lifted a syringe to the other man's neck and injected it's content to his bloodstream, "better if you don't know where we're going."

The sharp prick at the back of his neck caught him off guard and on instinct, he reached back to shove the needle away. "What the hell..." His vision blurred almost instantly and he stumbled backwards, over the chair by his desk. "Emil, what's going on?"

But the Doctor didn't answer, he reached over to help Oliver as the chair tumbled over and fell back to the floor even as he lost consciousness.

* * *

Bart tossed a piece of popcorn in the air and caught it in his mouth, flashing Chloe a grin as he sat on her sofa, legs stretched out in front of him, feet propped up on the coffee table. "Thanks for letting me hang out, Chloe."

"You don't have to thank me, Bart." She told him, smiling a little as she looked up from her laptop, "thanks for staying."

"Anytime, Beautiful," he assured her.

"Ollie should be back soon," she told him, checking the time on the cable box clock, "we can order some pizza and watch something and then you can spend the night in Lois' guest room, I doubt she will mind."

Bart nodded a little. "Cool. We can have a big slumber party." He grinned.

"Something like that," Chloe raised her eyebrows a little, "I'm surprised she and AC haven't showed up demanding food yet."

"Give it time," he told her with a smirk. "Good thing I can run fast. Can get any kind of authentic food on the planet in thirty seconds or less."

"Best delivery boy in the world?" She teased. "I guess we will ask the pregnant lady what she feels like having, then."

"Exactly." Bart tossed another piece of popcorn in the air and caught it.

"Okay, sounds like a plan," she told him, glancing back down at her screen, "feel free to change the channel."

He shook his head. "Are you kidding? Crocodile Hunter is a _classic_."

Chloe grinned and raised her eyebrows, "as long as you're entertained."

"What are you working on?" he asked curiously, glancing at her laptop.

"Isis," she told him, taking a deep breath, "I have stopped all experiments, but a lot of the people who Lex was experimenting on are in really bad shape and I need to get Isis up and running as soon as possible so we can take those people out of the labs and bring them to the rehab center."

He sat up a little, looking at her with widened eyes. "Can I help?"

She raised her eyebrows a little, "right now, I'm mostly working with Dr. Hamilton to find more doctors and some nurses to help us run the foundation and take care of everyone," she told him, "but I think, once we have patients in, it would be nice if you could come by and talk to them? Help me make them realize that having abilities isn't a bad thing."

Bart smiled. "Yeah. I can totally do that," he said eagerly, nodding. "You've got a great project going."

Chloe relaxed and smiled, nodding a little, she'd been planning on asking him, AC and Vic to talk to them all along, she just hadn't brought it up to the boys yet because well, Lex's victims were still at the facilities, "thanks, Bart, and thanks for wanting to help, that means a lot to me and I know it will to them too."

"Anything to help out my favorite girl," he told her with a wink, leaning back against the couch once more.

She smiled at him then leaned forward, placing her laptop on the coffee table, "I'll go check on Ollie, make sure he didn't fall asleep on his desk."

"Why don't I go?" he offered, flashing her a grin as he rose to his feet. "I can be back in a flash."

"Oh, I was just gonna give him a call," Chloe told him, smiling "you can keep watching your movie."

"Oh." He chuckled and sat back down. "All right."

"Be right back," she told him, heading to the kitchen to grab her phone and pressing one on speed dial before pulling the phone to her ear. She frowned when he didn't pick up his cellphone, it wasn't like him not to pick it up, but she tried his desk's phone next, frowning more when he didn't pick that up either, her stomach instantly knotting up.

"Bart?" She called.

"Yeah?" he called back, flicking another piece of popcorn into his mouth.

She took a deep breath and started toward the living room, trying Ollie's cellphone once more, "I might have you go check on him after all."

"He's not answering?" Bart looked toward her, frowning a little.

"No," she said quietly, "can you go make sure he's okay?" She asked him quietly, worriedly.

"Yeah. Sure thing." He rose to his feet. "Don't worry, I'm sure he probably just stepped into the bathroom or something." He winked at her. "Be back in a flash, Gorgeous."

Chloe swallowed and nodded, closing her eyes as the strong wind hit her then opening them again, trying Ollie's phone once more as she wrapped her free arm around herself.

Bart returned less than a minute later, his face paler than before.

She had started pacing even as she tried calling Ollie's phone over and over again, and when she felt the wind once more and turned to look at Bart, her stomach dropped at the look on his face, "what is it, Bart?" She asked urgently, her eyes widening.

"I think we've got trouble," he admitted, swallowing hard, his own eyes wide. "He wasn't there. But a chair was knocked over and his computer was still on."

Her heart sank and she took a deep breath, she had to keep herself together, "go look for him, see if you can find anything, I'll go get Lois and AC and give Victor a call."

Nodding, Bart disappeared in a flash.

Chloe took another deep breath, her hands turning into fists as she rushed toward the stairs, calling out for Lois and Arthur as soon as she was on their floor. They had to find him, he couldn't be gone.


	8. Road to Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third/final part of the trilogy that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid9) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)

Title: Road to Redemption  
Authors: [](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/profile)[**chloeas**](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**dl_greenarrow**](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: R  
Author's Note: This is the third/final part of the trilogy that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid9) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)  
Note 2: Just to clarify something--the title is not related to Chloe, even though this very Chloe-centric. She's done nothing she needs to be redeemed for. So.  
Disclaimer: They are SO not ours. But we'd like them to be.

[One](http://community.livejournal.com/chlollie/1012398.html) \-- [Two](http://community.livejournal.com/chlollie/1014965.html) \-- [Three](http://community.livejournal.com/chlollie/1018310.html) \-- [Four](http://community.livejournal.com/chlollie/1023922.html) \-- [Five](http://community.livejournal.com/chlollie/1029666.html) \-- [Six](http://community.livejournal.com/chlollie/1031833.html) \-- [Seven](http://community.livejournal.com/chlollie/1035019.html)

Chloe shook her head and stopped pacing, turning to look at Bart, Arthur, Victor, Joseph and Lois, "it has to be an insider, it takes a lot of knowledge to shut down the video system of Queen Industries, we need to find out who entered and existed the building before it happened, it could be a disgruntled employee, but whoever it was, they couldn't have gone all that far."

They had been looking for Oliver all night, but still, there was no sign of him, Chloe had lost count of how many cups of coffee she had had already, her stomach was hurting, her hands were shaking slightly, but she had to stay awake and she had to stay coherent because she had to find him, no matter how long it took, but the faster they figured out who took him, the faster they would bring Ollie back.

Lois drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "All right. Then let's start at the top. How can we find out who was at Queen Industries yesterday?"

"I hacked their systems," Victor said, shaking his head, "the last employee clocked out an hour and half before the cameras went offline, the only people in there were the security guards."

"And I already asked them if they saw anything weird," Bart added, shaking his head.

AC rubbed a hand up and down Lois' back gently, worry on his face as he looked at Chloe. "I could hit the docks. The guys down there like to talk. See if I can dredge anything up," he offered.

Joseph perched on the arm of the sofa, frowning deeply. "Who else has access to the information about you all?" he asked, looking around at them.

"No one," Chloe told him quietly, "we only have one other person who knows about us, but he wouldn't kidnap Oliver," she said, thinking of Clark then shaking her head a little.

"You're completely sure?" he asked quietly, meeting her gaze.

Chloe held his gaze and nodded, "Ollie may not be Clark's favorite person, but he wouldn't kidnap him." She told Joseph, "we all know him pretty well and I think we all agree with that," she added, looking around the room.

Lois folded her arms across her chest, her jaw tightening a little. "Even if he's a jerk, he's not a kidnapper," she agreed firmly.

With a deep breath, Chloe nodded and rubbed her hands over her face, "can anyone think of anyone else?" She asked, picking up her coffee and taking a long sip of it.

Bart frowned a little as Chloe drank more coffee then shook his head, "not really."

"So no one else out there knows about Ollie's green leather fetish besides Clark?" Lois questioned, looking at her cousin.

"Not that I know of," Chloe told Lois, frowning.

"There is Dr. Hamilton," Joseph pointed out, he didn't know much about the man, but he knew he was in there often.

"Emil?" AC frowned, then shook his head. "He's been looking after the team for months."

Bart nodded his agreement, "dude is a little weird and kinda quiet, but he's a good guy."

Chloe took a deep breath, "and why would he want to kidnap Oliver, anyway?"

"Maybe it's not even related to the Green Arrow thing," Lois murmured. "What if it's some kind of corporate espionage?"

"That's what I'm thinking," Victor agreed, "who are his biggest competitors?"

"LuthorCorp, we can rule that out," Chloe answered, then paused to think, "Wayne Enterprise, last I heard, Ollie was working on some deals with Bruce Wayne though so he would have no reason to kidnap him either."

"And that's the Big Three, right? In the business world?" Bart asked, cocking his head to look at Chloe.

Chloe nodded, pursing her lips together as she tried to think, "I know he has a strong competitor in Japan, but I would have to look up the name."

"Japan's pretty far to engage in corporate espionage and kidnapping." Victor frowned.

"All right, so if it's not about him being Green Arrow and it's not about business then what?" Bart shook his head.

"Personal," Lois murmured suddenly.

"Meaning what?" Bart asked, confused.

Chloe's stomach dropped as she met her cousin's gaze, the answer becoming clear in her head, "Lionel." She whispered.

* * *

He woke slowly, groggy and confused as he tried to open his eyes. He sighed softly, trying to shift into a more comfortable position but discovering he couldn't move his arms, which were currently secured over his head. "The hell," he whispered, tugging lightly and then grimacing as pain shot through him. He blinked a few times to clear his vision and looked up. His arms were in chains that were secured to the ceiling.

"Well that can't be good," he muttered.

"I'm glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humor, Mr. Queen," Lionel's voice came from behind him as he started towards Oliver.

His jaw tightened a little at the voice. "You."

"You seem surprised," Lionel said neutrally, sliding his hands into his pockets.

"Must be the drugs," Oliver responded just as evenly.

"Side effects? Good to know, we have been trying out a few different things, I will make sure Emil knows this one causes disorientation even after the person wakes up," he told Oliver.

He forced himself to take a deep breath. "What the hell do you want?" he asked, even though he already had a pretty good idea.

"The same thing I wanted last time, during my conversation with the lovely Mrs. Luthor," Lionel said with a smile, stopping to stand in front of Oliver, "I want to know where my son is."

"Personally I'm hoping he's in another country sharing a nice prison cell with a cell mate named Bubba," he said flatly.

"Now, Mr. Queen," Lionel shook his head, "I suggest you leave your humor aside and give me answers if you don't want Chloe to join us."

His eyes darkened, narrowed. "You lay a finger on her and I will _end_ you," he whispered harshly.

"You may not have noticed, but you are in no position to end anything, Mr. Queen." He said calmly.

"You'd be surprised."

"I doubt it." Lionel said simply, "but I meant what I said, I'll be more than glad to have Chloe join us, you see Mr. Queen, you may not recognize your surroundings, but if what Chloe's article about my son said was true, she spent a lot of time in here."

At that, he looked around, his stomach tightening at the various tools around the small room. Tools that could only be described as _torture_ devices. A wave of nausea washed over him.

Lionel watched Oliver closely and smiled when a sickened look appeared on his face, "I can't imagine," he said casually, holding his hands behind his back as he started pacing the room slowly and look around, "how painful it would be for her to come back down here and relive those moments," he said quietly.

Oliver shut his eyes at the thought, his heart beating more quickly in his chest. "I'll tell you what you want to know. Just keep Chloe out of it."

A smirk appeared on the older man's face and he nodded, turning to look at Oliver, "then why don't you start by telling me what you did to my son?"

He opened his eyes once more, his expression dark. "I shot him in the head," he said bluntly.

Lionel's face grew serious and he stared at Oliver, "are you admitting to murdering my son, Mr. Queen?"

"Your son," he said, his voice tense. "Tortured her. Beat her. _Raped_ her. Over and over. He's lucky shooting him in the head is _all_ I did."

He took a step toward Oliver and shook his head a little, "you _murdered_ my son, Mr. Queen. And Chloe Sullivan has taken our family's empire and is driving it to the ground, you realize I will have to make sure we're even, at the very least."

"We'll _never_ be even," Oliver informed him. "The only way that could even be possible is to wipe out every shred of your and your son's existence." His jaw tightened.

"I advice you don't bother trying to _threaten_ me, Mr. Queen, you will be lucky if I let you get out of this to protect Ms. Sullivan."

"Protect her from what?" he asked, shaking his head. "The only one she needed protection from is gone."

Lionel raised his eyebrows and shook his head, "I have worked _hard_ my entire life to build my company and empire, Mr. Queen, I'm not letting a petulant child destroy it."

"Lex did a fine job at that long before Chloe ever got it. At least she's doing something _good_ with it," he responded.

"How would _you_ feel, Mr. Queen, if someone came in and destroyed _your_ parents' empire?" Lionel asked and shook his head, "I don't expect you to assist me on having Miss Sullivan hand my company back to me, but I am certain you will try to get in my way while I persuade her, so I will have to keep you here for a while."

Oliver's jaw tightened at that. "Actually, I'd be thrilled if Chloe handed your company back to you so there's nothing left associating her with your family name at all," he informed the other man.

"Is that so?" Lionel smiled and raised his eyebrows, "and do you really think she will want to give it up so easily?"

"Who do you think stands a better chance of convincing her--you or the guy she's in love with?" he responded.

"You really think it will be that easy for me to let you run back to her, Mr. Queen?" Lionel chuckled, "I think I will try my luck first."

"You won't have any," Oliver informed him.

"I have you." He smiled, "Chloe has the tendency to do whatever it takes for the man she loves, or was that just for Clark?"

He rolled his eyes at Lionel. "Really? Taunting me about the guy Chloe was in love with in high school? That's the _best_ you can do? Color me disappointed, Lionel."

"No, Oliver," Lionel shook his head, "I was just wondering if her loyalty toward you was as strong as her loyalty toward Clark is, I was hoping it would be."

"I wouldn't count on it. Chloe knows I wouldn't want her to make any rash decisions just because I'm involved," he said with a shrug.

"Like I said," Lionel stood up straight, clasping his hands behind his back again, "I will try my luck. I hope you're comfortable, I'm sure you can keep yourself entertained in my absence, thinking of what happened with Chloe while she was in this room."

His jaw tightened once more. "It's really too bad you're not a better man, Lionel. But at least I know where Lex got it."

"I don't have to be a good man to my son's murderer, Mr. Queen." He said simply, turning around and heading for the door, "have a good day."

Oliver shifted slightly, watching him go and looking up at the ceiling, wondering if he could get out of the chains somehow. He had plenty of time to try.

* * *

Chloe sighed deeply and nodded at Lois, "I'll be fine," she assured her cousin, taking a deep breath and rubbing her face tiredly, "go, you need to get some rest and Bart and Vic will be back soon." They had been looking for Ollie for over twenty-four hours now and although they were also trying to find Lionel now, and they didn't seem to be any closer to finding either one of them.

"You need to rest, too," Lois told her, looking at her worriedly.

"I will," Chloe lied, holding her cousin's gaze, "but I'm more worried about you getting rest, Lo. You need to take care of yourself."

She drew in a breath and looked back at AC for a moment. "And I will," she informed them both. "But we _all_ know Ollie will be really upset if we don't make sure you're taking care of yourself, too, Chloe."

With a deep breath, she nodded, looking away, "I just need to find him, Lois." She said tightly.

"I know," she whispered, leaning in and kissing her cheek.

Chloe sighed and looked up at Lois, "please go rest."

She sighed softly, as well. "All right. I'll be back in a few hours. If you find anything or you need anything, come wake me up."

"I will," Chloe promised, meaning it this time. Without Oliver, Lois was the one person she would really lean on, as much as she knew Bart, Vic, AC and Joseph would do everything in their power to help, she wasn't as comfortable with them.

"I love you," Lois said softly, giving her arm a gentle squeeze before she turned to head for the front door.

"I love you too," Chloe answered quietly, watching as her cousin walked away and waiting until she heard her reach the bottom of the stairs before heading to the coffee pot and starting it again. They had looked everywhere they could think of, Bart had been running the city non-stop, searching every corner and only coming back to eat something, but there had to be a faster, easier way to find him, and that was when it hit her.

With a deep breath, she looked up then screamed, as loud as she could, "Clark!" He owed her after all.

Clark appeared in front of her only seconds later, his eyes wide. "Chlo?"

Chloe's eyes widened and she stared at him for a moment, surprised it had worked in the first try. But she had no time to waste, "Ollie is gone."

His eyes widened more at that. "Gone? What do you mean?" He shook his head, taking a step toward her.

She wrapped her arms around herself instinctively as he stepped closer, "someone kidnapped him, we think it was Lionel, he vanished last night and we haven't been able to find him since."

He paused in his steps when he saw her sudden change in posture. "Do you have any idea where Lionel is?"

Shaking her head, she took a deep breath, "Bart has been looking all over town, Vic tried every satellite image..."

"Even all of Queen Industries'?" he asked hopefully, knowing how high-tech Ollie's satellites were.

Nodding, she pursed her lips together, "all of it," she held her breath as she looked up at him, her eyes big, "I need your help."

Clark's gaze softened. "I'll do whatever I can."

Swallowing hard, she relaxed just slightly, "maybe you can hear him, or look into places the rest of us can't."

"I'm on it," he assured her quietly. "I'll find him, Chloe."

She let out a breath and just nodded, wrapping her arms tightly around herself.

"I'll call you as soon as I find anything," he promised, gazing at her a moment later, and then vanishing with a gust of wind.

Chloe watched him go and sighed, dropping her arms to her sides, she just hoped he found him soon.


	9. Road to Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)

Title: Road to Redemption  
Authors: [](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/profile)[**chloeas**](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**dl_greenarrow**](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: R  
Author's Note: This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)  
Note 2: Just to clarify something--the title is not related to Chloe, even though this very Chloe-centric. She's done nothing she needs to be redeemed for. So.  
Disclaimer: They are SO not ours. But we'd like them to be.

Clark spent what was left of the night searching, he had ran into Bart at one point and had gotten some more information about places where the younger man had looked, he had double-checked all the places and during all that time, he had always kept his ears out both for Oliver and for Chloe, in case she found anything. But then he heard a different but equally familiar voice calling for him, that was when he realized he hadn't told Lana where he'd be and since it was morning already, she must have woken up to find him gone.

He started running in the direction of the farm, but didn't make it that far, just as he was running past the Luthor mansion, he heard a single heartbeat inside and stopped, his eyes widening and he didn't blink twice before making his way into the castle, he knew it belonged to Chloe now, and he knew it was supposed to be empty, it was Smallville after all and everyone knew what happened around the small town.

Oliver flinched involuntarily when a gust of wind sent him swinging forward in his chains. He'd spent the entire time he'd been conscious attempting to get free from the shackles, to no avail. He opened his eyes slowly to see Clark standing there.

He didn't even blink before breaking the chains away from Oliver and freeing him, his eyes still wide, "are you okay?" He asked worriedly.

He let out a breath, grimacing a little as he looked down at his wrists. "Yeah. I'm all right," he told the other man. "Thanks."

Clark nodded and stepped closer, "I'll take you back."

"Wait." Oliver tugged his arm sleeves down over his wrists and then looked back at Clark. "Is she okay?"

Clark's jaw tightened and he nodded a little, "I think so, but she'd worried enough to ask me for help."

He shut his eyes for a moment. "Don't tell her where you found me. All right?"

Frowning, Clark looked at Oliver for a moment then looked around him, he had read the article Lois wrote, he knew where they were. His stomach turned and he nodded.

"Thank you," he said quietly, looking up at Clark once more. "We'll just say I was at some Luthorcorp warehouse. All right?"

"Yeah," Clark agreed quietly, swallowing, "I should get you back."

Oliver nodded once more. He just wanted to get back and hold her.

* * *

Chloe felt like a zombie. She hadn't slept since the night Oliver was with her, her heard was pounding, but she was drinking coffee, her laptop in front of her, but she was barely seeing it. She needed Oliver. She needed to find him and she knew that there was no point in sleeping if he wasn't there because she wasn't going to manage to get any kind of quality sleep.

When the strong wind hit her, it took her a moment to manage to look up, her eyes widening as she blinked several times as she made the shape of both men who were now standing in her living room, the second she saw him, her chest tightened painfully and she started in his direction, "Ollie," she breathed, hoping she wasn't dreaming.

Oliver's chest tightened at the way she said his name, at the fear and relief mixed together. He quickly moved toward her, wrapping her in his arms. "I'm okay," he whispered, closing his eyes. "Are _you_ okay?"

She didn't answer, just wrapped her arms tightly around him, clinging to him as hard as she could, pressing her cheek against his chest, feeling his heart beating against her ear. It really was him, he really was there, safe.

Clark took a step back and watched the reunion awkwardly, he knew he should leave, but he wanted to make sure Chloe was okay before he did.

He laid his chin atop her head, his arms tightening around her a little more. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

Even with her eyes closed, she could feel them getting warm with tears, she was trying her best to control them, but she knew she wouldn't manage for much longer, she had been so scared and she was so tired, but he was there now and he was okay. Except, only now she realized that her hands were really warm, blinking her eyes open to try to see him through her tears, she held her breath and looked up at him. He was hurt, but she didn't want to bring that up because she didn't want him to pull away and make her stop healing him.

He gazed down at her, meeting her eyes. "Everything's fine," he murmured, lifting a hand to her cheek and leaning in to kiss her softly. He blinked a couple of times as the pain from his wrists and the exhaustion he felt began to diminish. His eyes widened a little and he pulled away from her. "Well that's...unexpected."

Chloe pursed her lips and looked up at him, watching him closely, she knew he was gonna get mad at her for healing him, but she didn't care.

"What is?" Clark asked, frowning as he took a step forward.

Oliver glanced back at him, almost having forgotten the other man was still there. "Apparently she doesn't have to see a person's injuries to heal them," he murmured, looking at Chloe once more.

"Where are you hurt?" She asked finally, her voice deeper than usual from the exhaustion that had just intensified.

"Chloe, I'm okay." He gazed at her intently. "It's nothing life-threatening. I promise."

Her eyes teared up again as she stared at him, "what did he do to you?"

He felt his chest tighten at the sight of her tears and he drew in a breath, reluctantly rolling up his shirt sleeves enough to reveal his red, bruised wrists. "See? It's not that bad, Professor."

She held her breath as she looked down at the bruises and her stomach turned, he had been tied up, that much was obvious, but she recognized the shape of the bruises instantly, she had seen them on herself several times before, his skin was raw from rubbing against the cuffs and the the cuffs had been larger than usual, heavier than usual and so narrow that even on her wrists, which were much smaller, they bruised badly over the wrist bone, his looked even worse than her own had.

"Look at me," he said quietly, recognizing the expression on her face. "Chloe."

Chloe sniffed quietly but didn't raise her head, she wrapped her arms around herself and swallowed hard. He had been locked up in the dungeon, Lionel had locked him up and had done god knows what to him, had made him suffer like she had because of _her_.

"Chloe?" Clark called quietly, frowning when he saw her curling up into herself, more so than she had the previous night, he had never seen Chloe do that before.

Oliver forced himself to take a deep breath as his heart began to beat faster at her lack of response to his words. He was going to have to say something to jolt her out of her state. "Chloe. I'm _fine_. But we need to put our heads together because Lionel knows I killed Lex."

And that did it. Her eyes widened even more and she finally lifted her head to look up at him, "how?"

 

"I told him," he admitted, moving closer to her once more, letting out a breath.

" _Why_?" She asked in a whisper, searching his eyes.

"It was the only way he was ever going to give up the search." He held her gaze.

Chloe let out a breath and looked back down, rubbing her hands over her face tiredly, "what are we going to do?"

He glanced back at Clark, then reached out and touched Chloe's arm. "First we're going to get some rest," he said quietly. "I don't think either one of us will be able to come up with any kind of workable plan without some sleep."

Clark took the hint and nodded, taking a step back, "let me know if you need help with anything." He told them quietly.

Blinking, Chloe turned to look at Clark, she had forgotten he was there once more. She took a deep breath and said "thank you," quietly.

With a worried look on his face, Clark nodded, "anytime." He said just as quietly before speeding away.

Oliver cupped her face in his hands and kissed her forehead softly, closing his eyes.

Chloe raised her hands to his arms and sighed deeply, closing her eyes too and leaning into him, "are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," he promised softly, smoothing a hand over her hair and pulling her closer.

She brushed her hands over his arms and wrapped her fingers around his wrists, looking up at him, "are you hurt anywhere else?"

He shook his head, meeting her gaze. "No. He didn't hurt me."

Chloe held his gaze for a moment, searching his eyes to make sure he wasn't just trying to protect her then nodded, "okay."

Oliver watched her for a moment, vividly remembering his need to make sure she was healed after Lex had engraved his name on her stomach. He winced involuntarily at the memory and let go of her face, pulling his shirt up for her to examine his skin.

She held her breath and looked at him for a moment longer before looking down at his stomach, not hesitating before pressing her hand against his skin and touching it lightly, relieved when she didn't see a single bruise on it.

"I'm all right," he whispered, gazing at her with worried eyes.

Stepping close, she wrapped her arms tightly around him, "can we go to bed?"

He hugged her back just as tightly. "Yeah. Come on," he whispered, kissing her temple. Still holding onto her, he guided her toward the hallway.

"Wait," she pulled away and pulled her phone from her pocket, sending a quick mass text to the boys, Lois and Joseph, telling them Ollie was back, he was okay and that they were going to rest. She wanted to make sure they all did the same.

He watched her for a moment, and realized what she was doing. "How are the others?" he asked uncertainly.

"Worried," she admitted, looking up at him as she slid her phone back into her pocket, "but I think at least Lois managed to sleep and hopefully they will rest now."

Oliver leaned down and kissed her forehead softly. "I'll buy everyone pizza when we're all conscious again," he murmured.

"Bart will like that," she said quietly, but didn't really manage a smile.

"I'm sorry I scared you," he said just as quietly.

"I'm sorry he came after you because of me." She told him, looking up at him.

"He came after me because he suspected I was involved in Lex's disappearance," he said softly, shaking his head.

"And you are," she took a deep breath, "because of me."

He cupped her face in his hands again, gazing at her intently. "And I'd do the same thing a hundred times over if I had to." _And sooner than I did the first time._

She swallowed and looked up at him, "I don't want any of you to be in danger, Ollie."

"Chloe, we're all in danger all the time," he said softly. "It's what we do."

"Luthor kind of danger." She clarified, her expression becoming slightly more stoic.

"If Lionel becomes a real threat, I'll stop him." His voice was even, but without a hint of kidding.

Chloe shook her head, "I will." And there was no if, she couldn't chance him getting Ollie again, or one of the boys, or worse, Lois and the baby. She had gone through enough to keep all of them safe and if it meant getting rid of one more Luthor for this to finally be over, then she would do it.

He gazed at her, his eyes filled with worry. "Let's just rest right now, okay? We can talk about the rest of this later."

She blinked and looked away, nodding then taking a deep breath and starting toward the bedroom once more.

"Chloe?"

Stilling, she turned to look at him after a moment.

"I love you," he whispered.

Her face softened as she looked at him, her shoulders hunching a little as she let out her breath, she expected him to say something about Lionel, about how she wasn't going after him, or about how she was worrying him, but she was glad he hadn't, "I love you too," she whispered quietly then held out her hand to him.

 

Oliver reached out and took her hand, lacing his fingers with his and following her into her bedroom silently.

* * *

Chloe shifted sleepily on the bed as she started to wake up, she could feel Ollie's arm around her and and she relaxed once more. She linked her fingers through his and pulled his hand tightly against her stomach. He really was there and he really was okay, she hadn't been dreaming it.

He opened his eyes slowly, shifting slightly and looking down to see her head resting beside his on the pillow. "Hey," he whispered.

She turned her head toward him, she'd been sleeping on her back so she just shifted closer and brushed her nose against his cheek.

Oliver smiled a bit, turning his head more toward her and kissing her softly.

Chloe returned the kiss without hesitation and turned to face him, wrapping her arm around him after letting go of his hand.

He slid his arm around her more, as well. "Sleep okay?" he murmured, nuzzling his nose against hers.

"Yeah," she whispered, kissing him again, "you?"

"Good," he whispered back, returning the kiss without hesitation.

Chloe held him close and kissed him softly for a moment longer before pulling back and looking up to him.

Oliver met her gaze, lifting his hand to touch her cheek. "I love you so much," he whispered.

Her chest tightened and she held her breath as she leaned into his touch, "I love you too," she told him quietly, "we can't let this happen again."

"He wants LuthorCorp back," he said quietly.

She closed her eyes and sighed deeply then shook her head, "he can't have it."

"I know." He kissed her forehead. "And I have an idea."

Frowning a little, she raised her eyebrow and turned her head up to look at him.

Oliver was quiet for a moment, not sure how she would feel about what he was going to suggest. "A merger. Between Queen Industries and LuthorCorp," he said softly.

She frowned a little more, she suspected that he was going to suggest that, "how is that going to help, Ollie?"

He smiled a bit. "Because it will help solidify your ownership of LuthorCorp so no matter what he does, Lionel won't be able to take it over again."

"But a merger would mean we both own it," she told him, sitting up, "which will just put you in even more danger."

Oliver sat up, too. "Yeah, but now that we know Lionel is onto us, we know to be more careful than we have been."

Chloe took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her head, nodding a little, "I just don't want him to have any kind of power again, I can't risk him starting those 33.1s up again."

He watched her intently. "We won't let that happen, Chloe."

She nodded a little and rubbed her hands over her face, "the only thing he still has control over is the Daily Planet." She told Oliver, "Lex bought it after he had removed Lionel from his other businesses so it wasn't included in that. I don't know if he realizes it or not, but he probably does."

"Then we need to find a way to get that away from him too," he stated.

Chloe nodded a little and took a deep breath, "and after we do, he's still out there, and he still knows you killed Lex."

"He knows. He doesn't have proof though." He rose to his feet, raking a hand through his hair.

She watched him for a moment and nodded a little, they had done a good job at hiding any and all evidence, and Lionel wasn't exactly seen as a reliable source anymore, "it won't stop him from holding it over our heads, though."

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "I know."

"What else did he say?" She asked finally.

He shook his head a little. "Nothing really. He was more upset with you owning LuthorCorp than me killing Lex."

"I'm sure he wasn't surprised, he probably had already figured it out, you just confirmed what he already knew," Chloe told him.

 

"Either way," he said quietly, shrugging a little.

"If we do the merger," Chloe said, moving to stand up, "he's going to come after us full force."

Oliver met her eyes, nodding a little at that. "You're not wrong."

"We will need need to be ready for him, and we will need to make sure the others are safe, especially Lois." Chloe told him quietly, her jaw tightening slightly.

He took a step toward her. "We will." He drew in a breath, letting it out slowly. "I promise."

With a soft sigh, she nodded and looked up at him, "maybe Bart can run them over to your villa, Lois and AC at least. I don't want there to be any trail of where they could have gone."

He nodded, as well. "It's a good idea," he agreed. "We can talk to Lois and AC, see what they think."

"Lois won't agree to it," Chloe told Oliver, "but I can't risk Lionel hurting her and the baby because of me."

"Because of us," he corrected her softly.

Chloe sighed softly and looked down, rubbing her hand over her face.

"This isn't your fault," Oliver told her, moving over to stand beside her.

She knew he was trying to comfort her, but she also knew that wasn't the truth, "I'm just glad Clark was able to find you before he hurt you more."

"Chloe. Look at me," he said softly.

Chloe sighed deeply then raised her head reluctantly.

 

"You have to stop blaming all of this on yourself. It's _not_ your fault," Oliver told her quietly.

"It _is_ my fault, Oliver and you repeating that won't make a difference," she said bluntly.

He forced himself to take a deep breath and shook his head. "It's not. And you can go on thinking it is if you'd prefer, but that doesn't mean I'll stop telling you you're wrong."

"I'm not wrong," she told him, "this is my mess, I got myself into it and it's _not_ over," she said firmly, "and until it is, I have to keep trying to clean it up and make sure no one else gets hurt in the process."

"You _are_ wrong. This is _Lex's_ mess. Lex is the one who was experimenting on people in 33.1. Lex is the one who blackmailed you and tortured you. You're _not_ responsible for that," he informed her. "And you're not in this alone. Lex may be gone, but you and I are in this together, Chloe."

"I was the one who _let_ him blackmail me, Oliver, if I had had the backbone to just kill him when this all started, none of it would have happened and the rest of you would still have been safe." She said tightly, "and you wouldn't have his blood on your hands."

"And if I had just killed him to start with, none of it would have ever happened either," he responded without hesitation. "We can stand here and play the blame game all day long, but the fact is, Lex dug his own grave the minute he touched you and I wish I'd had time to do more than shoot him in the head." His voice was harsh.

"That's not the point, Oliver." She told him, not at all intimidated by the harshness in his voice, "the point is that _I_ should have been strong enough to take care of him on my own and I wasn't and I'm done letting you clean up my messes."

He was glad she wasn't intimidated because that hadn't been what he'd wanted anyway. "What does that even mean, Chloe?" He shook his head, taking a step toward her.

"I want to take care of Lionel on my own," she told him, holding his gaze.

Oliver stared at her for a moment. "And how do you intend to do that?"

"I'm going to see him." She said simply.

"Are you kidding? You want to go see Lionel Luthor? By yourself?" His voice rose a little.

"Yes," she said firmly, "he's not going to do anything to me, Oliver. Especially not at LuthorCorp."

"You don't know that. I was taken right out of my--" He paused, staring at her.

"What?" She asked, frowning, but still determined to follow through with her plan.

"Emil," he whispered, his face draining of color.

"What about him?" Chloe asked, frowning harder at the look on his face, "did Lionel take him too?"

He looked up at her, meeting her gaze even as his stomach knotted. "Emil was the one who drugged me."

At that, Chloe's stomach dropped, "he was working for Lionel?"

" _Shit_ ," he whispered, rubbing a hand over his face. "Shit."

Chloe didn't think twice before looking around the room for her phone and speed dialing Joseph, she had no idea what time it was, but she wasn't thinking about it, "Joseph?" She said when the other man answered, "I need you to alert security that Doctor Hamilton should not be allowed into the building." She was quiet for a moment then nodded, taking a deep breath, "thank you." She told him before hanging up.

Oliver's heart was pounding heavily in his chest as the reality of the situation really began to sink in. "He knows. He knows everything. All of it." _Because of me_. "Shit."

"He might not have been working with Lionel when you hired him," Chloe reasoned, holding on to her phone tightly.

"It doesn't matter. He is now." He shut his eyes, forcing himself to take a couple deep breaths.

"Lionel already knew everything, Oliver," she shook her head, "it doesn't matter if Emil gave him more information, we just need to make sure he doesn't have access to any of us anymore."

"He knew everything about Clark maybe. But he may not have known about your abilities. Or Bart's. Or AC Or Vic's." He raked a hand through his hair. "And it doesn't mean he's not going to spill everything he knows."

"Lionel is too involved with Clark's secrets to become public about them," Chloe pointed out and shook her head, "I need to go find him and we need to find Emil."

"All right. You call Clark, I'll get the rest of the team gathered," he told her, heading for the closet to grab a change of clothes.

"Clark?" Chloe echoed, frowning and shaking her head, "I was talking about Lionel."

He turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised. "Chloe, I don't think that's the best idea right now."

"What are we going to wait for, Oliver?" She asked, shaking her head and starting toward the closet, "for him to take another one of us? No. I'm finding him first."

"Not by yourself," he said quietly, shaking his head, as well.

"Yes, Oliver, by myself." She told him firmly, "I handled Lex by myself for months, I can handle Lionel," she said, her jaw clenching slightly.

He flinched at that. "Why?" he demanded, moving toward her. "So he has the chance to take you? Forget it."

"You're _not_ coming with me, Oliver," she told him firmly, "I can handle him and if he so much as _tries_ to take me, he won't get a chance to take more than two steps."

"I didn't say it had to be me, Chloe," he said, his jaw tightening.

"No one is coming with me." She said stubbornly, her jaw also tightening as she took a step toward him, "and if you try to have someone follow me, I will know."

His eyes narrowed. "Do you even care about what happens to yourself? At all?"

"Yes, I care," she said tightly, "I also care about _you_ trusting me for a change and not feeling the need to protect me for five minutes!"

 

Oliver stared at her. "You think I don't trust you?"

"I don't think you trust me to protect myself," she said bluntly, turning around and walking back inside the closet.

"I don't trust _Lionel_ not to play dirty," he responded just as bluntly.

"I fully expect him too," she told him, stepping back out of the closet, a small gun in her hands, "it will be just the excuse I'll need."

" _Chloe_." He shook his head. "You're not a killer."

"This won't be over until they are both gone." She told him simply, making sure the safety was on before sliding the small gun in her back pocket, "and I'm tired of it so I'm ending it."

"It is _not_ that easy, Chloe," he said, shaking his head again and moving toward her.

"Yes, it is." Chloe said firmly and stepped back, away from him.

"No, it's not." He caught her arm in a gentle grasp. "We got lucky when it came to Lex and covering up his murder. That kind of luck doesn't tend to strike twice and there's too much at stake to go into this without serious thought and planning!"

Her jaw tightened and she stared up at him, "let go of me." She said firmly, her eyes narrowing.

Oliver released her instantly, stepping back from her with wide eyes.

Chloe stared at him for a second then pushed past him and out of the room, if she didn't go now, she might not be able to anymore, so she couldn't let him stop her, even if she had to use her issues to get him to let her go. She needed to prove to herself and to everyone else that she could take care of herself and of her mess on her own.

Feeling his stomach tighten into a knot, he moved to pick up the phone by her bed, dialing a number he knew by heart. "I need your help."


	10. Road to Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)

Title: Road to Redemption  
Authors: [](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/profile)[**chloeas**](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**dl_greenarrow**](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: R  
Author's Note: This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)  
Note 2: Just to clarify something--the title is not related to Chloe, even though this very Chloe-centric. She's done nothing she needs to be redeemed for. So.  
Disclaimer: They are SO not ours. But we'd like them to be.

Clark picked up the phone in the second ring, he hadn't recognized the number, but he figured he needed to pick it up anyway because not a lot of people had his cellphone and he was glad he did when he heard Oliver's voice on the other side, "what's wrong?"

"Chloe. She's going after Lionel," Oliver said, rubbing the back of his neck. "And we've got a big problem because Emil Hamilton was the one who drugged me. He's working _with_ Lionel."

Clark's eyes widened at the information and a second later, he was standing in Chloe's apartment, phone still in hand as he looked around, "Oliver?" He called when he didn't immediately see the other man.

Oliver quickly hung up and made his way down the hall to Clark. "She just left. She can't have gotten far."

Nodding, Clark looked at Oliver for a second then rushed back out of the apartment.

Chloe had barely made it to the parking lot when she felt the strong wind and her jaw tightened as it send her car keys flying.

"Chloe." Clark appeared in front of her, his eyes wide.

She glared up at him then pushed her way past him, kneeling on the floor to pick up her keys from under a parked car.

"You can't do this." His voice was quiet.

"Don't bother, Clark. I don't go by your moral code anymore." She told him as stood up and turned to face him again, "I have my own."

"This isn't about a moral code, Chloe." He shook his head.

"I don't care what it is about, you can't stop me."

"This is not the way." His voice was quiet. "And you're wrong about that."

"There _is_ no other way," she told him tightly, "for as long as there are Luthors out there, my family and the people I love are in danger and I'm done taking chances on their lives."

"Then let _me_ take care of Lionel." Clark gazed at her intently.

"What are _you_ going to do?" She asked, her jaw tightening, she knew Clark wouldn't go far enough.

"I'll get rid of him," he said quietly.

"How, Clark?" She demanded, "because unless you put a bullet through his head, it's not going to be good enough!"

He looked down for a moment. "There are other ways, Chloe." He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, looking up at her once more. "I'll banish him."

"Banish him?" Chloe laughed humorlessly, "where to, Clark? And he's a _Luthor_ , how long do you think it will take him before he finds a way back? Or has one of his people reach out and take one of us? Or are you forgetting the fact that he almost blew me and my dad up to pieces while he was inside a maximum security prison?"

"To the Phantom Zone, Chloe," he said, raising his voice a little and staring at her. "The Phantom Zone."

That made her stop and she stared up at him, "you are willing to throw a _human_ into the alien prison?" She said, lowering her voice.

He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. "I wish I'd done it to Lex."

Her jaw unclenched slightly and she looked down then took a deep breath, somehow, the phantom zone sounded even more cruel than killing Lionel, "what if he finds a way out of that? Kryptonian technology isn't exactly a complete mystery to him."

"Then we'll take your method." His voice was quiet. "This is worth a shot."

She sighed deeply and rubbed her hands over her face, "and when people start asking questions?"

"He went off to search for Lex," Clark said softly.

Chloe looked up at him and held his gaze, searching his eyes, "and what happens when you regret this?"

"If I do, it'll just be another thing on the list of things I regret," he told her quietly. "Let me do this, Chloe."

Her jaw tightened a little, then she relaxed it, nodding, "if you can't do it, you tell me."

"I can do it." He swallowed hard, nodding back at her.

She looked at him for a moment longer and nodded again, pursing her lips together.

"I'll let you know when it's done," he said quietly.

She took a deep breath and stepped back, nodding.

Clark nodded, as well, then vanished.

Chloe blew out a breath then walked over to her car, got in and sat down, closing her eyes, she would need some time before facing Oliver again.

* * *

Oliver's arms were folded over his chest as he looked around at the group gathered before him. "I've got some bad news." _Understatement_ , he thought.

"What's going on?" Bart asked, frowning and not missing the fact that Chloe wasn't there.

He didn't quite meet Bart's eyes. "Lionel Luthor," he said quietly.

"Yeah, we know he had you," Victor said.

"Nevermind that, where the hell is my cousin?" Lois demanded irritably.

Oliver definitely didn't look at Lois. "She's with Clark." He drew in a breath and let it out slowly.

"What? _Why_?" She asked, even more irritated.

"I think it's better if you talk to her about that yourself," he responded, rubbing the back of his neck. "But right now we have another problem."

"What problem?" AC asked, frowning.

Lois' eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms over her chest.

Bart, who was sitting next to Lois, shifted on the couch, moving away from her a little bit, just in case.

Oliver shut his eyes for a moment, dreading their reactions to what he was about to say. "Emil Hamilton is working with Lionel."

" _What_!?" Lois said loudly, standing up, "the doctor who knows _all_ our secrets!? Who has been inside Chloe's apartment twice a week, usually _by himself_ , who knows all about my _mutant baby_ is working for _Lionel Luthor_!?"

He flinched at that. "Yes," he said quietly. "He's the one who drugged me so that Lionel could have me kidnapped."

"Oh hell," AC muttered, rubbing a hand over his face and reaching out to wrap his arm around Lois' waist.

"And why the hell are all of you still sitting here instead of going to find him and stop him from... doing something with all of it!?" Lois asked, looking pointedly down at AC.

Once more, Bart shifted farther away and looked up at Ollie, not sure what to do.

He eyed her warily. "We need to form a plan first," he said gently, rubbing her back.

Oliver nodded slightly. "He's right. We can't just run off half-cocked."

"Maybe I can go find him and keep an eye on him until we figure out what to do?" Bart offered, hoping this would get him out of the room with the angry pregnant lady in it.

"If you can find him, that's a good start," Oliver told him quietly, nodding at him.

"Right," Bart said, standing up, relieved, "I'll have my communicator on me," he told them before vanishing.

He exhaled slowly, glancing back at Victor. "Can you start tracing every financial transaction made by both Lionel and Emil in the last few months?"

"Yeah," Victor stood up and nodded, "I'm on it."

He watched Vic head out the door, leaving him alone with AC and Lois.

"What do _we_ do?" Lois asked, raising her eyebrows.

"You rest and take care of yourself," Oliver informed her, pushing himself away from the wall. "And AC plays your bodyguard." He headed toward the door.

"And where are you going?" She said, eyes narrowing again.

He paused, turning to glance at her. "I'm going to find Lionel Luthor."

* * *

Chloe heard footsteps in the parking lot and raised her head from the steering wheel, she wasn't sure how long she'd been up there, but she was still trying to figure out what to say to Oliver when she saw him again, but apparently her time was up, because there he was, heading to his car and by the tightness of his jaw, she could only guess he was going after her.

With a deep breath, she reached for the door and opened it, but didn't get out, "Oliver." She called just loud enough for him to hear.

He paused in his tracks at the sound of her voice, then closed his eyes for a moment as his chest tightened painfully. Slowly, he turned to face her, simply gazing at her in silence, not moving toward her.

When he didn't move, she got out of the car slowly, taking her keys with her before closing the door, wincing slightly as the noise of the door slamming closed echoed through the otherwise silent parking lot, her stomach in knots as she took a couple of steps toward him.

Oliver stood still, watching her as she approached and trying to read her expresson, but finding himself unable to do so.

"Where are you going?" She asked once she was close enough to him to keep her voice down.

"To look for the missing villians," he said, his voice guarded.

"Clark is looking for Lionel." She told him, stopping herself from crossing her arms over her chest.

"Then I'll start looking for Emil," Oliver answered.

"Isn't that what Bart is doing?" She asked, she had felt the car shake with the strong wind and had seen the red blur running by.

"Doesn't mean two of us can't be on the same mission," he said quietly.

"You don't need to get yourself kidnapped again." She said as neutrally as she could manage.

"I don't want to fight with you, Chloe."

"I don't want to fight either, Oliver," she told him, her chest tightening, "but I'm getting really tired of you not trusting me."

"I trust you one hundred percent with my life," he informed her. "With the lives of the rest of the team."

"But not with my own." She said, her jaw tightening slightly.

He gazed at her intently, falling silent.

She stared at him, her jaw tightening more and more as the silence stretched between them.

"I'm sorry if that upsets you," he said quietly. "I've seen you put everyone ahead of yourself time and again, Chloe, and that's honorable. Heroic. But sometimes even heroes need a little help and that's nothing to be ashamed of. That's all I'm trying to say."

"I'm not _ashamed_ of anything," she said, her voice shaking slightly with anger, "but having that come from _you_ , of all people, Oliver, that's what bothers me." She told him, her voice tight as her emotions tried to break through her crumbling stoic expression, "I have _never_ leaned on someone as much as I have been leaning on you. Not on Lois, not on my dad, not on Clark and still, you can't trust me to do a single thing on my own without somehow breaking down or screwing it up."

"Chloe, that's _not_ what this is about," he said, his voice dropping. "Leaning for moral support and having backup when you're going into a dangerous situation are two entirely different things!"

"Yes, it is!" She told him, "you don't trust me to do _anything_ on my own, you don't even trust me to use my own damn power without feeling like you need to hold my hand, and nearly get yourself killed in the process!"

He stared at her for a moment, his jaw tightening. "Because maybe _I'd_ rather die myself than watch you die again," he said harshly.

"And don't you think _that_ would be just as hard on me as it would have been on you!?" She demanded, stepping forward and glaring up at him.

"You died in my arms, Chloe," he whispered, glaring back at her. "And excuse me if I don't think I can deal with seeing it happen for a second time."

"I didn't _die_ , Oliver, I was healing! I don't even know if I _can_ die, but I do know that I can take a lot more than you ever could physically, so no, I'm not going to willingly put you in a position where you could get shot or hurt in any way." She told him, her hands turning into fists against her sides.

"You _did_ die! Your heart _stopped_ beating. You stopped breathing! And you don't know for sure how many times you can heal someone else before it's too much, dammit," he said, his jaw tightening again. "What happens if you go to heal someone and you _don't_ come back?"

"Then you move on like you should have been doing in the first place!" She yelled at him, her eyes tearing up, her stomach and chest tight, "you won't have to stop living your life to take care of mine anymore!"

"I _can't_ move on, Chloe, because I _love_ you!" he yelled back at her. "You are it for me. Don't you get that? I don't want anyone else!"

"So you say," she said, her voice lower now, her jaw tight, her hands shaking slightly as she held them into fist so tight, her nails were digging into her skin, "except it seems like it's _so easy_ for you to let yourself get hurt and leave me without you!" She said finally, a tear finally running down her cheek as she clenched her jaw as tight as she could.

"Yeah. I know the feeling," he said, his voice lowering as well, his chest tightening.

Chloe groaned and unclenched her fists, rubbing her hands over her face in frustration, "how hard is it for you to _understand_ that I can't get hurt!?" She asked, her voice breaking, "if Lex didn't kill me, nothing else I've done so far was going to, Oliver!"

Oliver blew out a breath and looked away, closing his eyes. "This isn't getting us anywhere."

"No, it's not," she said harshly, "so what the hell do you want to do?"

"I don't know." His shoulders slumped a little.

Chloe sighed deeply, closing her eyes and shaking her head, a lump suddenly forming in her throat as she looked down, "I _can't_ lose you, but I need you to believe I can stand on my own too, otherwise you're just staying because I need to lean on you." She said in a broken whisper.

Oliver's chest tightened at her words and he tried to push away the sick feeling that was forming in his stomach. "What about a compromise?" he whispered.

With a deep breath, she lifted her head to look at him.

He drew in a breath, too, stepping a little closer to her. "Training," he said quietly.

She blinked, mostly to clear her blurry vision but also to clear her confusion, "training?"

Oliver nodded slightly. "Fighting. Self defense. Weapons handling. All of it."

Pursing her lips, she considered him for a moment then nodded a little, "under one condition."

He studied her for a moment. "What condition?" His voice was quiet.

"I get to heal you," she told him, "especially if you are badly injured."

He shut his eyes for a moment. "If you promise that you'll always come back to me," he whispered.

She let out a breath and lifted a hand to his side, her fingers curling around his shirt, "I promise," she whispered back.

"I don't want to lose you, either," he murmured, opening his eyes again and gazing at her, lifting a hand to her cheek.

Chloe swallowed hard and looked up at him, "I don't want to see you hurting," she whispered, "especially not because of me."

His chest tightened and he dipped his head wordlessly, pressing his mouth against hers.

Her arms went around his neck instantly and she returned the kiss, but unlike their usual kisses, that tended to start slowly, she immediately kissed him hard as she pulled him close.

 

The intensity of the kiss caught him off guard, but he found himself responding to it instinctively, his arms winding around her waist to pull her closer.

She tightened her arms around him and pressed her body flush against his, kissing him breathlessly. The tension from their fight and from him being missing starting to dissolve.

Oliver groaned softly as she pressed her body to his, one hand sliding up her back and tangling in her hair, tipping her head back a little more for better access as he deepened the kiss. If things had been different, if she hadn't been through what she'd been through, he'd suggest they get back inside her apartment. Instead, with great restraint, he ended the kiss, closing his eyes and resting his forehead against hers as he breathed heavily.

Chloe took a deep breath when the kiss ended, but didn't let go of him, just kept her eyes closed, she wished he hadn't stopped, but she knew why he had.

"I love you," he whispered.

She let out her breath and finally opened her eyes, "I love you too." She said quietly.

He nodded slightly, brushing his lips lightly over hers once more, kissing her again, more softly this time.

She kissed him back, lifting a hand to cup the back of his neck and brushing her thumb against his skin.

Oliver brushed his nose against hers, resting a hand on the back of her neck, as well.

Chloe swallowed and closed her eyes, "I'm sorry I told you to let go of me," she whispered, her stomach knotting up as she remembered the look on his face.

"I'm sorry if I was acting like an overprotective jackass," he said just as quietly.

She smiled a little at that and kissed his cheek softly.

"Cleary we have some things to work through," he murmured, closing his eyes as she kissed his cheek.

"Yeah, we do," she agreed quietly, brushing her nose against his cheek, "but I think we'll be okay."

Oliver turned his head and kissed her cheek, as well. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes," he whispered.

Her face softened at that and she nodded, pulling back to look at him, "me too."

He held her gaze and offered her a smile. "Good," he murmured, taking her hand in his.

She linked her fingers with his and took a deep breath, "can we just go back upstairs?"

"Yeah," he whispered, lifting her hand to his mouth and kissing her knuckles. "Come on."

Chloe squeezed his hand gently then nodded and started toward the elevator with him, "did you tell the others?"

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Yeah," he murmured, tightening his grip on her hand ever-so-slightly without realizing it.

She nodded a little, "and Bart is looking for Emil and Lois is safe?"

"Yeah. AC's her official bodyguard for the forseeable future," he said quietly.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded, "did you tell them where I was going?" She asked in a whisper, looking down.

"I told them you were with Clark," he said very softly.

She squeezed his hand and nodded, "thank you."

"I should probably warn you that Lois is pretty upset."

Chloe made a face and nodded a little, "because I wasn't there or because of Emil?"

"Both," he told her. "But more because of Emil."

"Did Vic already block him from all access?" She asked quietly once they walked into the elevator, finally looking up at Ollie again.

He drew in a breath. "He's working on that and tracking financial transactions he and Lionel have made in the last few months."

 

"Okay," Chloe said quietly, looking down again, "Clark said he was going to take Lionel to the Phantom Zone."

Oliver looked up at her, startled. "He is?"

She nodded a little, looking up at Oliver and pursing her lips together.

He was silent for a moment, taking that in and trying to ignore the feeling of guilt and uncertainty that were already tugging at him. He nodded a little. "Oh."

Chloe squeezed his hand tightly, feeling it too, "I don't... is it weird that this sounds more cruel than shooting him?" She asked in a voice so quiet, she barely heard it.

 

"It doesn't sound weird," he said quietly.

She held her breath and looked up at him. "I want him gone," she whispered, "but this doesn't feel right."

"Then we'll find another way." He met her gaze.

" _What_ other way?" She asked him quietly, searching his eyes.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But maybe we should open it up to the team for discussion."

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, "okay." She whispered.

He leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. "We'll come up with a solution we can all live with."

She leaned into him and nodded a little, "thank you."

He wound his arm around her waist. "You're welcome."

Chloe leaned into him then slid her hand in her back pocket and pulled out her phone, quickly texting Clark with 'don't do it', she just hoped it wasn't too late.

 

* * *

A couple hours later, Clark knocked softly on Chloe's apartment door and waited, holding his breath.

Chloe frowned and looked up from her laptop, Ollie had gone to Queen Industries to talk to his lawyers about the merger and she was helping Victor check all the documents to make sure Emil didn't have access to anything else, and she wasn't waiting for anyone. She picked up the small from fron this morning from the coffee table and stood, making her way to the door and looking out the peephole, and both relaxing that she wasn't going to need her gun and tensing at the look on Clark's face. She opened the door without hesitation and stepped aside for him to come in.

"I've taken care of it," he said quietly as he stepped inside.

Her eye's widened and her stomach instantly clenched, "you didn't get my message?"

His eyes widened as well. "No, I got it," he said quickly. He gazed at her for a moment. "But I talked to Lionel."

"Oh," she let out her breath and relaxed a little, then looked at him silently for a moment, "what did he say?"

"A lot," he admitted. "I got him to agree to leaving you and Oliver alone if you let him have the mansion." He gazed at her. "He doesn't even want LuthorCorp. Not really."

Chloe blinked a couple of times and stared up at him, "but he told Ollie he did..."

"He wanted confirmation on what happened to Lex," he said softly.

"Oh," she said quietly, "and all he wants is the mansion?"

Clark nodded slightly, watching her. "I told him what would happen if he came after you, or Oliver ever again."

She looked at Clark for a moment then let out her breath, "thank you," she said quietly.

"You don't..." He shook his head. "No need for thanks," he said softly.

Chloe nodded a little and looked up at him, "I know I was... harsh on you, I didn't feel like I could count on you anymore, but this makes a difference," she said quietly, "because I don't think either me or Ollie would have been able to get through to Lionel like you can."

"I deserved it," Clark told her quietly. "You're right. I let you down."

She looked down for a moment then nodded a little, "still, I-- thank you, for taking care of it."

He nodded slightly. "I know it doesn't begin to make up for anything," he whispered. "But I'm trying, Chlo."

Her chest tightened and she nodded a little, her face softening, "I know you are," she said quietly, "that's why I'm thanking you."

 

Clark gazed at her for a moment. "I've missed you," he admitted quietly, looking down at the floor.

Chloe's expression softened at that and she nodded a little, "maybe one day we'll get back to normal," she said quietly, her eyes tearing up slightly.

His chest tightened as he glanced up at her again, hesitantly stepping closer and holding his arms out to her.

She looked at him for a moment then hesitated before stepping closer and wrapping her arms around him.

He hugged her tightly, closing his eyes.

Chloe relaxed a little, she was still hurt about Clark not helping her while Lex had her, but he couldn't change the past and she could tell he was really going out of his to make things right and that was going to be enough.


	11. Road to Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)

Title: Road to Redemption  
Authors: [](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/profile)[**chloeas**](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**dl_greenarrow**](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: R  
Author's Note: This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)  
Note 2: Just to clarify something--the title is not related to Chloe, even though this very Chloe-centric. She's done nothing she needs to be redeemed for. So.  
Disclaimer: They are SO not ours. But we'd like them to be.

Oliver had just finished changing clothes into a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt when he heard the door open to the apartment. He froze for a moment, growing still. Chloe was supposed to be at Isis, working, and he hadn't expected to see her again until that night. And she definitely wasn't expecting to see him there, in the middle of the day, out of his work clothes on a weekday.

_Crap._

He held his breath, trying not to make any noise even as he listened to the soft, muffled sound of her clearly searching for something in the other room.

Chloe sighed and dropped her purse to the floor, "goddamnit," she mumbled and started her way to the bedroom.

Oliver winced involuntarily, knowing he was about to be caught. Although he was kind of surprised it had taken so long for it to happen in the first place, considering how long he'd been following this routine now.

As soon as Chloe stepped into the bedroom, her eyes widened and she gasped quietly, then let out her breath as the recognized the supposed intruder, "Ollie?"

"Sorry," he said softly, holding his hands up on instinct.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, frowning a little.

Oliver glanced down at himself, knowing there was no way he'd be able to say he'd just decided to come back for lunch. "I uh--I have an appointment in a little while, so I came back to change."

"Appointment?" She frowned, now worried, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he assured her quickly, shaking his head.

Chloe looked at him in silence for a moment, "then why do you have an appointment?"

Oliver gazed at her for a moment, then looked down. "I've been seeing someone." Immediately realizing how that sounded, he winced and shook his head. "Not...a counselor. I've been seeing a counselor."

Her eyes widened for a second, the she blinked, her heart suddenly beating fast, "a counselor?"

"Yeah," he said softly, glancing up at her again.

"For what?" She asked, frowning.

Oliver gazed at her for a moment. "At the shelter," he said, his voice dropping.

"What shelter?" She asked, frowning more and shaking her head a little, none of it was really making sense.

"The domestic violence shelter," he admitted.

At that, her stomach dropped a little, "oh."

"Yeah," he whispered, looking down again.

She was quiet for a moment, feeling suddenly incredibly uncomfortable, "why?"

"She's educating me on it," he told her softly. "So I can understand better."

Chloe blinked a couple of times and shook her head, "why didn't you tell me?"

"I was kind of afraid it would upset you," he confessed.

She looked at him and took a deep breath, "I'm not... happy about it." She admitted then shook her head, "I know it hasn't been easy on you, Ollie, but you're just telling some stranger about things..."

"She's bound by confidentialty, Chloe, like any regular therapist. If she breaks it, she's breaking the law and goes to jail." He gazed at her.

"Like Emil was bound?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

Oliver flinched visibly at that. "This is why I didn't want to bring it up," he mumbled, heading for the door.

"Oliver, wait," she said, sighing deeply and shaking her head.

He stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around. "Emil wasn't a therapist. He wasn't bound by anything except morals, which apparently he had none of," he said, his voice distant. "Believe me, I'm not going to make the same mistake twice, Chloe."

"I never said you would," she told him, "but you can't blame me for wanting to be cautious."

"I don't," he said, turning to face her again. "But I don't know what else to do, either."

She studied him for a moment then took a deep breath, "is it helping you?"

"To understand better? I think so." His voice was quiet as he studied her back.

Chloe nodded and pursed her lips together then shrugged slightly, "like I said, I know it hasn't been easy on you and as long as it's helping you..." she said quietly then shook her head, "you should go, I don't want you to be late."

He hesitated a moment. "You could come with me. See how they're set up. Maybe it'll give you some ideas for Isis," he suggested.

She looked at him suspiciously for a second, "I'm not talking to anyone, Ollie."

"I'm not asking you to," he said quietly, shaking his head.

Pursing her lips together, she considered him for a moment then nodded, if he was going through all this to figured out a better way to deal with her issues, she could at least go with him this one time.

Oliver smiled faintly at her and held out his hand.

She took his hand tightly in hers and started out the bedroom with him.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, squeezing her hand gently.

Chloe picked up her purse on their way out and they made their way back to the elevator. She would have to find the file she came back for later, because she had the feeling she wouldn't make it back to Isis today. The foundation was up and running already, but it was still standing on shaky legs, the merger had been finalized over six weeks ago, and she hadn't heard anything about Lionel since Clark told her he moved back to the mansion over two months ago.

Things had been running as smoothly as they possibly could, in the business front anyway. Lois was almost four months pregnant and although the morning sickness was over, she was moodier than ever, the only person she seemed to control her temper around was Chloe herself, she felt bad for AC and Ollie, who were getting yelled at the most often.

And things between her and Ollie were going... slow. She had been starting to try to get them to move a little further as far as intimacy went, but so far, she had had no luck in that particular front. She knew he was just doing his best to control himself so that they didn't go further than she was comfortable with, but her body had started to respond to all his little touches in way it hadn't in a long time, and she knew she and Ollie would have to have a talk about this eventually. The talking part she wasn't looking forward to.

The short drive to the shelter was quiet but he could feel her uncertainty, her tension. He stroked his thumb gently over the back of her hand as he steered the car into a parking spot on the street, then shut the car off a moment later, glancing at her sideways. "This is it," he told her softly. "They've been here since 1985."

She looked at the building and nodded a little, keeping her eyes out the window for a moment longer, "how long have you been coming here?"

He was quiet for a moment. "Since about the time you found your own place," he admitted.

Chloe raised her eyebrows a little and looked at him, "that long?"

Oliver glanced at her and nodded. "Yeah. I didn't really know how to help you." His voice was quiet. "It was the only thing I could think to do."

Her face softened a little and she nodded a little, he'd been doing even more for her than she knew, "thank you," she whispered quietly, squeezing his hand.

 

"I love you," he said softly, kissing her hand.

"I don't think I can ever argue with that," she said quietly.

"Good. That's the point." He smiled softly.

She tried for a smile then leaned in, kissing him softly.

 

He returned the kiss without hesitation, then rested his forehead against hers. "Come on," he murmured.

 

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little then moved to get out of the car, her stomach a little tight.

 

Oliver moved around to her side of the car, taking her hand and guiding her to the sidewalk. He laced his fingers through hers, nodding at one of the counselors as she stepped out of the building. She smiled and nodded back before heading away. "One of the legal advocates," he told Chloe softly.

She nodded, giving the woman a polite smile as they walked inside, she couldn't help but wonder if the woman recognized her and how much she knew, for someone who works with something like this, Chloe was sure she'd been topic of conversation around here.

 

Oliver glanced at her as he rang the bell and waited until they were buzzed in before he opened the door for her. "We can see if someone has time to take you on a tour of the building while I talk to Cynthia," he offered. "It's a pretty comfortable place. They have a little garden courtyard. Maybe you could arrange for something like that at Isis."

Chloe squeezed his hand a little, "feel free to say no but... would you be comfortable if I went in with you?"

He paused at that, glancing at her sideways. "Yeah."

"I don't wanna talk to her," she clarified, "but I rather go in." She said quietly.

"It should be fine," he assured her just as quietly, kissing her temple.

She let out a breath and nodded a little, closing her eyes for a second then looking up at him.

He lifted a hand to her cheek. "It's all going to be fine," he whispered.

"I know." She said quietly, "just... pretend I'm not there."

Oliver kissed her forehead, closing his eyes.

"Oliver?"

He turned at the sound of the familiar voice and smiled faintly at Cynthia. "Hi."

She smiled back, her gaze shifting to Chloe. She nodded a little at her. "Hello."

"Hi," Chloe said, nodding a little, she would have introduced herself, but she didn't think that was necessary.

Oliver slid his fingers through Chloe's once more. "Is it all right with you if Chloe sits in with us?"

"Of course," Cynthia said, nodding. "Let's go to my office."

Chloe squeezed his hand a little as they followed the woman into the small office, she wasn't sure what to expect , but she figured this might give her a better idea of what _he_ was going through.

Oliver glanced at Chloe sideways as they walked out of the shelter a little over an hour later. As she'd told him before, Chloe had stayed quiet during his session with Cynthia. They'd spent the hour talking about the nightmares both he and Chloe had been having--except Chloe hadn't known he'd been having them at all. It wasn't something he'd planned to tell her, but he knew enough from the video feed that he'd seen for his imagination to come up with plenty of horrific and graphic details. And while he tried his best to suppress those thoughts during the day by working and focusing on trying to help Chloe or the league, the thoughts took over his subconscious when he slept. He was fairly certain it was the same case with Chloe.

"You okay?" he asked softly.

"Yeah," she said quietly without really looking at him. She hadn't been expecting to hear the things she'd heard and she most certainly hadn't been ready to hear them. She just wanted them to be alone before she started talking, because she wasn't sure how emotional she was going to get.

He didn't believe it. Not for a second. Especially when she responded with a one word response. He hesitated before reaching out to take her hand.

She didn't hesitate before wrapping her fingers around his tightly, she wasn't trying to shut him out in any way, but it had been so overwhelming, she was going to need some time to gather her thoughts, "we'll talk when we're back at the apartment." She promised quietly.

Oliver tightened his fingers around her just a little, nodding. "Okay," he whispered just as quietly, leading her to his car.

Giving his hand a soft squeeze, she let go of it as she stepped into the the car and waited for him to close the door for her before sighing deeply. She'd had no idea he'd been having nightmares, she'd have no idea he was _still_ so haunted by that video. She had never seen it, and she hadn't been fully conscious when it was recorded, but she could only imagine how much worse it must have been to see it, because when she was living it, she had the option to close her eyes and block things out, he didn't. And he hadn't.

The drive back to the apartment was even quieter than the drive there had been. He wasn't sure bringing Chloe along with him had been such a great idea. The point hadn't been for her to be worried about him. It was to try and get her to be more open to the idea that it was okay to talk about what happened. That even if she couldn't talk to _him_ about it, there were people she _could_ talk to. He just hoped she wasn't too overwhelmed, and that it hadn't been a setback for her. That was the last thing he wanted.

She didn't really look at him at all as they made their way into the apartment. Once they were inside, she slowly walked over to the coffee table and placed her purse on it, then slid her shoes off, taking a deep breath before finally turning to look at him.

"It was too much," he said softly, tucking his hands into his jeans pockets once he'd shut the door behind them.

"It was a lot," she admitted, stepping closer to him, "but I'm glad I went."

"You are?" His eyebrows furrowed at that.

"Yeah," she said quietly, placing her hands over his arms, "I had no idea any of those things were happening, Ollie," she said in a whisper, "it's so easy for me to forget that you went through a lot too."

Oliver reached up, cupping her face in his hands. "I don't want you to worry about _me_ ," he whispered.

Chloe shook her head and looked up at him, "I _should_ be worrying about you," she told him, "because we're supposed to be in a relationship, Ollie and it's not all about me."

He drew in a breath and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I just want you to know that it's okay to talk about it. Any of it. With me or...with anyone. I mean, I know you're talking to J'onn, and I'm not trying to push. I'm just...like you said, we're in a relationship."

She sighed softly and wrapped her arms around him then nodded, "I know, and J'onn _is_ helping," she told him in a whisper, "but I want to know how _you_ feel too, Ollie, even if you don't feel comfortable telling me everything," she paused, "I want to be able to take care of you like you've been taking care of me."

He slid his arms around her, resting his chin atop her head. "It kills me to see you hurting," he whispered. "And not be able to really fix it."

Her eyes teared up slightly and she pressed a kiss to his chest, "you _are_ fixing it. I would be a much bigger mess if it wasn't for you, Ollie." She whispered.

Oliver's arms tightened around her a little. "You're not a mess, Chloe. Considering everything, you're doing pretty damn well."

She pulled her head back and looked up at him, "I have made it this far thanks to you," she said sincerely, lifting a hand to cup his cheek, "I mean it Ollie, I wouldn't have been this together if you hadn't been here, holding my hand, literally, through every step of the way."

He leaned into her touch. "You're strong," he said quietly. "But I'm glad I've helped." He turned his head and kissed her palm.

Chloe tiptoed a little and kissed his cheek, "you have, you helped so much," she whispered quietly, then held his gaze, "let me do the same for you."

"All right." He searched her eyes.

She kept her gaze in his for a long moment, "I don't want you to suffer because of this," she told him, "but knowing that I'm not the only one who is still partially living this nightmare, there is some comfort in that," she admitted, even though she knew it was selfish, "and knowing that maybe I can help you like you've been helping me, it gives me purpose."

Oliver's expression softened at that. "And maybe..." He took her hand, lacing their fingers together. "Approaching this together will help us both."

Her expression softened into a small smile and she nodded a little, squeezing his hand back, "exactly."

* * *

Chloe woke up slowly, things between her and Ollie had been improving in the past couple of weeks, she had started going with him to his meetings with Cynthia and although she was yet to speak up, it had been very eye opening to see how Ollie felt and even to see what the counselor told him, she had even admitted to him that it had given her a better understanding of what she herself had been going through too.

Besides, hearing him talking so openly about his feelings, it made her admire him even more than she already did, and knowing that he had started doing this for _her_... it made her chest warm. She loved him, so much. And she knew that no matter how things got to how they were today, no matter the way they had happened, he was it for her.

She couldn't stop herself from lifting a hand to touch his cheek even as he slept peacefully in the best next to her, and then press a soft kiss to his forehead.

Oliver shifted slightly beside her, instinctively moving closer to her. The arm that was draped around her stomach tightened momentarily and a faint smile touched his mouth.

The smile only served to encourage her and she shifted closer too, turning to face him before brushing her lips against his as her arm wrapped around his back.

He kissed her back softly, reacting to her actions even in his state of half-sleep. "Morning," he murmured, opening his eyes slowly and brushing his nose against hers.

"Morning," she said quietly, smiling at him a little brighter before pressing her lips to his again.

Oliver couldn't help but smile more at _her_ smile. "Sleep okay?" he whispered, returning her kiss again, rubbing her back gently.

"Yeah," she told him softly, turning her head and kissing his cheek, then his jaw, "you?"

He nodded, letting his eyes close once more, and sliding his hand up and into her hair. He pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Yeah. Slept great."

"I'm glad," she told him, smiling a little more before kissing him softly on the lips.

Oliver kissed her again, a little slower this time as he woke up a little more. "Sleeping good is good."

"I agree," she told him brushing her lips against his again as she moved even closer to him on the bed.

He drew in a breath, cupping her cheek in his hand and nibbling gently on her lower lip.

Chloe parted her lips for him and closer her eyes, sliding her hand down his back before moving it inside his t-shirt.

He shuddered a little, involuntarily, reaching down and stilling her hand before gently pulling it away from him, though he didn't break the kiss.

She did, taking a deep breath and pulling her head away enough to look at him.

Oliver paused, taking a deep breath, as well. He met her eyes and offered her a small, uncertain smile.

Chloe searched his eyes for a moment, considering her options then pursing her lips together, "if you're stopping me because you're not comfortable with things going any further, that's okay," she said, then paused, "but don't stop on my account."

"Because you're comfortable?" he asked quietly, searching her eyes.

"I am," she whispered sincerely, holding his gaze, "and if I get uncomfortable with anything, I plan on telling you the second it happens."

Oliver brushed his thumb over her cheek, kissing her mouth lightly. "Okay."

She kissed him then turned her head and kissed his thumb, "are you okay with this?" she asked in a whisper.

"Yeah. I guess I'm just...not exactly sure what you want me to do," he admitted, looking down for a moment, then back up at her.

Chloe shook her head a little, "do what you feel like doing," she told him, taking one of his hands and pulling her t-shirt up a little then placing it against her side, under the fabric as she held her breath a little, "and like I said, if something makes me uncomfortable, I will let you know."

He held his breath for a moment, swallowing hard as his fingers grazed her bare skin. After a few seconds, he met her eyes, slowly turning her so she was on her back. He kept his hand against her hip, dipping his head and kissing the column of her throat tenderly.

She held his gaze for as long as she could, then shivered at the feel of his lips against her throat, closing her eyes, she lowered her hands over his back, then pushed his t-shirt up slightly, touching his lower back with her fingertips.

Oliver swallowed hard at her light touch, sliding his hand up her shirt a little, caressing her back, as well. He kissed her chin lightly, then her cheek.

Chloe arched her back slightly do he could slide his hands over it and held her breath, opening her eyes and kissing his jaw softly. She kept waiting for the urge to push him away and tell him to stop, but so far, that was the last thing she wanted.

He slid his hand higher, gently stroking her shoulder blades as he kissed her forehead, trying his best to resist the urge to shift closer to her.

She hesitated for a second then shifted under him, moving her legs to either side of him and sliding her hands up his back, pressing her palms against his skin as she turned her head up to look at him.

He held his breath for a moment, then opened his eyes to look down at her, his gaze full of warmth, but also intensity. He kissed her softly on the mouth.

She returned the kiss and smiled a little against his mouth, she felt like he was more nervous than she was, so she rubbed her hands over his back slowly, willing him to relax.

Oliver shifted slightly, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly before lowering his mouth to her throat again and kissing her there once more, softly, resting his weight on his hands that were on either side of her head.

Chloe focused on getting him to relax rather than anything else, she rubbed her hands up his back, then pulled them from under his shirt and moved them to his shoulders and arms, rubbing his muscles slowly as she closed her eyes.

"I love you, Chloe," he whispered, kissing her collarbone.

"I love you too, Ollie," she told him quietly, shivering a little and turning her head to kiss his temple, her hands still working on his shoulders.

Oliver paused for a moment, suddenly realizing why he was uneasy about the situation. He shifted slightly, sliding his arms beneath her and flipping them so she was on top of him. He looked up at her, holding her gaze.

She blinked, adjusting to the position and propping herself up on her arms to look better at him, smiling a little, she shook her head then leaned down and kissed him, slowly at first, but deepening a moment later.

He smiled back and returned her kiss without hesitation, relaxing beneath her.

Chloe smiled against his lips as she felt him relax, she knew he was letting her control the situation, and she appreciated it, if she was honest, she was more comfortable with this too.

Oliver rested his hands lightly on her hips as they kissed slowly, deeply. He relaxed more as he felt her do the same, his eyes drifting shut as his thumbs rubbed gently over her skin.

She slid one of her hands down and pulled his t-shirt up once more, she didn't plan on taking things much further too soon, but she wanted them to be more comfortable with touching each other, and she also wanted to know how far she could go.

He opened his eyes once more, watching her intently. "You can touch me however you want as long as you're comfortable," he murmured.

She raised her head a little and smiled at him, shaking her head, "I want you to be comfortable with it too, Ollie," she told him quietly, kissing his cheek.

He grinned involuntarily. "I'm comfortable," he assured her.

"Good," she told him, grinning a little at him before kissing him once more, harder this time as she pulled his shirt up all the way.

Oliver shifted slightly, pulling the shirt off over his head and discarding it onto the floor. "Better?" he teased, kissing her back.

Chloe raised her eyebrows and smirked a little at him, "getting there," she teased back, kissing his lips for a moment longer then his jaw.

He chuckled softly, then shuddered a little at the feel of her lips on his jaw.

She raised her eyebrows, smiling to herself as she felt him shudder, before pressing her lips to his neck as she ran one of her hands down his side.

Oliver exhaled shakily, closing his eyes as he slowly slid his hands up her back, pushing her shirt up a little as he did so.

It was her turn to shiver as she felt his hands on her, she hesitated for a second then sat up and pulled her shirt off.

He opened his eyes when she moved and his eyes widened instantly as they were met with the sight of her now half-nude body. The breath caught in his throat for a moment. "Wow," he whispered, gazing at her.

Her face flushed instantly and she looked down at him for a moment before leaning down and pressing her chest to his, shivering a little as she did.

"You're beautiful," he murmured against her ear, stroking her back lightly.

Chloe smiled a little, shivering once more and turning to press her nose against his cheek.

He hugged her gently, turning his head to kiss her cheek.

She lifted a hand to cup his cheek and looked down at him, brushing her lips against the corner of his mouth. This was nice, and a lot more comfortable than she expected.

Oliver leaned into her touch, capturing her lips with his even as he trailed his fingers up and down her spine.

Chloe shuddered at that and deepened the kiss, as she brushed her fingers over his cheek.

He let her guide them, let her show him what she was comfortable with, not pushing or urging things to go any farther between them. As much as he wanted her, he loved her too much to push her, even a little.


	12. Road to Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)

Title: Road to Redemption  
Authors: [](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/profile)[**chloeas**](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**dl_greenarrow**](http://dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: R  
Author's Note: This is the third/final part of the triology that starts with [A Fine Line](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html) and [Better Late Than...](http://chloeas.livejournal.com/103105.html#cutid10)  
Note 2: Just to clarify something--the title is not related to Chloe, even though this very Chloe-centric. She's done nothing she needs to be redeemed for. So.  
Disclaimer: They are SO not ours. But we'd like them to be.

"Where is she?" Chloe demanded, her eyes wide as she dragged Ollie into the waiting room of Metropolis General. It was just past three in the morning and it had taken them all of ten minutes between getting the call, changing and making it in there.

"Where is she, Bart?" Chloe repeated as she walked up to the younger man.

"In the delivery room," he told Chloe, his eyes also wide, "AC is in there with her."

At that moment, a high-pitched scream filled the air. "I HATE YOU!"

Oliver winced a little at the sound of Lois' shriek, sympathy for AC washing over him.

Chloe stared down the hall and shook her head, "I need to go in."

"Doc said only one person could be there with her, but as long as she's yelling, she's fine, right?" Bart asked, uncomfortable.

"You should probably go and rescue AC," Oliver told her, kissing her cheek.

Vic winced as another scream came from down the hall. "Yeah, I agree."

She took a deep breath and nodded, it sounded like Lois was already well into labor. She made her way down the hall and after talking to a couple of nurses and wearing everything that was required, she stepped into the delivery room.

"Oh thank God." Lois heaved a breath as she spotted her cousin. During the duration of her pregnancy, she'd been more hormonal than most and she didn't know if it was because she was carrying a baby that may very well have extra abilities, or because she was just _that_ lucky. Somehow, Chloe was the only one who seemed to calm her nerves when she was on edge.

Chloe gave her a sympathetic smile as she walked over to the opposite side of the bed that AC was standing on, "you didn't think I would have missed this, did you?"

"I would've kicked your ass," Lois informed her.

"I'm sorry, but you can only have one visitor at a time in here," one of the nurses spoke up.

Lois glared at her. "I'm the one having the kid, so I'm calling the shots. Now shut _up_!"

Chloe winced and out of the corner of her eyes, saw one of the nurses shaking her head at the one who had spoken. She took Lois' hand and squeezed it, "deep breaths, Lo."

She relaxed a little, squeezing Chloe's hand in return and inhaling slowly before exhaling.

AC moved a little closer, but remained silent.

"This baby's coming fast for a first baby. Your second will be a breeze," the doctor teased.

Lois glared at him. "Who the hell said anything about a second?"

Chloe caught AC's eye and nodded at Lois' other hand, smiling at him a little and nodding before looking back down at Lois, "what, someone needs to make sure the Sullivan-Lane line remains awesome." She teased, doing her best to distract her cousin.

"And this one can't do that?" she asked, laying her head back against the pillow.

AC took Lois' other hand, kissing her knuckles lightly, giving Chloe a grateful look.

"Of course," Chloe told her, brushing Lois' hair from her face, "but it's always good to have more than one, how do you expect her to take over the world by herself?"

Lois grinned at that. "No, no. She won't. You and Ollie need to have one so she can have a little cousin to--" She winced as a contraction hit and her grip on both of their hands tightened. "--to play with." She gritted her teeth.

Chloe winced as she watched Lois, suddenly glad that if Lois did break her hand, she could just sleep it off and not even tell her cousin about it, because it seemed like a very real possibility, "oddly enough, this isn't doing anything for my wanting to have kids," she teased, then grew serious, "breathe."

"I _am_ breathing. And you _have_ to have one so they can be the same age difference apart as we are. Can you imagine her growing up without a cousin to take care of? She'll be _lost_."

A smile tugged at AC's lips and he looked at Chloe with raised eyebrows.

Chloe shook her head a little at AC then kissed Lois' forehead, squeezing her hand gently, "so you're giving me about sixteen months to have a child?"

"Pretty much." She relaxed a little as the contraction passed, then was followed by another almost immediately, making her sit up a little as she screamed.

"Okay I think it's time to start pushing, Lois," the doctor informed her.

"C'mon, Lo," Chloe said, glancing at the doctor then back down at Lois, "it's almost over, you get to meet Ella soon."

Lois closed her eyes for a moment, tightening her grip on both of their hands and pushing as she screamed.

It took a few more pushes from Lois, but it felt like no time at all had passed to Chloe when she suddenly heard a baby crying, without letting go of Lois' hand, she turned to look at the doctor, her eyes wide.

The doctor smiled as he allowed AC to cut the umbilical cord, then handed the tiny infant to the nurses, who cleaned her and wrapped her in a blanket before one of them placed her on Lois' chest. "Here's your daughter, Miss Lane."

Lois stared at the baby with wide eyes, then looked up at Chloe.

Chloe smiled at AC then down at her cousin before staring down at the baby, "she's beautiful, Lo." She said quietly, brushing her fingers over Lois' hair gently.

AC looked down, blinking back the tears in his eyes as he gazed down at their daughter. "Just like her mom."

Lois smiled at them, pressing a kiss to Ella's head and counting her fingers and toes.

"Congratulations," Chloe said quietly, looking at Lois then at AC and smiling at him when she saw his teary eyes.

"Thank you," she whispered, gently touching Ella's cheek as the baby gazed at her with wide blue eyes.

AC leaned down and kissed Lois, and then Ella's forehead.

"I'll go let the others know everything is okay," Chloe told them quietly, wanting to give them some alone time with their new child.

Lois reached out and caught her hand. "Thank you." Her voice was soft.

"You're welcome," Chloe said in a whisper, stepping closer and kissing her temple, "you did an amazing job, Lo."

"Yeah. I did," she agreed, grinning.

"Share the credit, will you? AC helped," Chloe told her, grinning before pulling back and looking at Ella, her expression softening a little.

"I did the hard work." Lois paused, then smirked. "Most of it anyway."

AC smiled and shook his head, unable to stop staring at the baby, "you can have all the credit."

Chloe touched Ella's tiny hand for a second and smiled as the baby shifted, "there is plenty of it, she's perfect."

Ella let out a sudden cry.

"She's also hungry," one of the nurses said with a soft smile.

"Definitely your daughter, Arthur," Chloe told him with a smile, "I'll be back soon." She promised Lois.

"You better be," Lois warned, watching her head for the door.

Chloe walked out of the room and down the hall, which sounded a lot more peaceful now that Lois wasn't screaming, she smiled at the three men and nodded, "everything is okay."

"She had the baby already?" Oliver stared at her with wide eyes. "That was fast."

"Told you!" Bart told Oliver as he stood up, "I knew it was too quiet."

Grinning a little, Chloe nodded, "yep, I already got to meet Ella and she's beautiful."

"Naturally. Runs in her family." Bart grinned at Chloe.

Oliver smiled, wrapping his arms around her.

Chloe wrapped her arms around him and smiled too, closing her eyes for a second, "she's eating right now, but I'm sure AC will come let us know when we can come in."

"Congratulations, Aunt Chloe," he teased softly, pressing a kiss to her earlobe.

Although she tried, she wasn't able to suppress a shudder, she looked up at Ollie and squeezed his side a little, she knew he knew exactly what kissing her ear would do to her, "thank you, uncle Ollie."

Oliver grinned at her, winking and kissing her temple. "Anytime."

She smirked a little at him and shook her head, "impossible," she whispered, then hugged him gently.

"Nothing's impossible," he murmured, hugging her back.

"You are," she teased, smiling up at him.

He grinned again at that. "Well, I wasn't counting _me_."

"Uh huh," she smirked and raised her eyebrows, "Lois has given us an ultimatum when I was in there."

At that, he raised his eyebrows as well. "What ultimatum would that be?"

Chloe smirked and watched him closely, "she wants Ella to have a cousin who is the same age different at Lois and I are."

Oliver couldn't help but smirk at that. Somehow he wasn't surprised by the demand. "And how do _you_ feel about that?"

She shook her head a little and smiled, "after what I just saw? That would be a hell no." Then she shrugged a little, "ask me again in a couple of weeks."

A small chuckle escaped him and he pulled her a little closer, kissing her softly.

Chloe wrapped her arms tightly around him and returned the soft kiss before pulling back and smiling up at him, if she was ever going to consider that with anyone, it would definitely be him.

He met her eyes and smiled back at her. "I love you. And just so you know...if and when you're ready for that..." He brushed his nose against hers. "I wouldn't be opposed."

She smiled brightly at him and nodded a little, "I had the feeling you wouldn't be," she said quietly and shrugged, still smiling "we can get some practice with Ella first."

He rested his forehead against hers. "Like a trial run," he teased.

"Pretty much," she smirked and shrugged a little again, "although we have no choice but to help."

"Well, no. We do live right above their apartment," he teased.

"Good thing neither one of us has the habit of sleeping in?" She teased back, raising her eyebrows.

He grinned. "No kidding."

She grinned back and nodded, kissing him softly once more, "I can't wait for you to meet her. She's beautiful and so tiny..."

"And already has her aunt Chloe wrapped around her little finger." Oliver kissed her softly again.

"Yeah?" She grinned a little and kissed him back then brushed her nose against his, "wait until you meet her, you'll melt and buy her a yacht."

"Or buy her a pony." He chuckled.

"Possibly both," she teased, smirking.

" _Probably_ both," he responded, shaking his head. "But only if _you_ don't do it first."

"I'll try to resist the urge," she told him, still smirking, "but she has those really big blue eyes and dark brown hair, kind of impossible to resist."

He groaned, dropping his head for a minute. "We're so screwed."

Chloe laughed softly and kissed his cheek, nodding, "pretty much," then she shrugged, "at least there are worse ways to be than wrapped around the tiny fingers of a newborn."

"That's true," he said softly, pulling her close once more. "Maybe this is like a new beginning for all of us."

She looked up at him and nodded, her face softening, "I think this sounds like a good place to start." She told him quietly, a soft smile on his lips.

"Me too," he whispered.

"I love you," she told him quietly, brushing her lips against his.

"And I love you," he murmured.

She smiled up at him and nodded, brushing her nose to his, "definitely a good place to start."


End file.
